Gamma Power and Cognition in Patients with Schizophrenia and Their First-Degree Relatives

Abstract

Background: Gamma oscillations are essential for functional neural assembly formation underlying higher cerebral functions. Previous studies concerning gamma band power in schizophrenia have yielded diverse results. Methods: In this study, we assessed gamma band power in minimally treated patients with schizophrenia, their first-degree relatives and healthy controls during an oddball paradigm performance, as well as the relation between gamma power and cognitive performance. Results: We found a higher gamma power in the patient group than in the healthy controls at the P3, P4, Fz, Pz and T5 sites. Compared with their relatives, gamma power in the patients was only marginally higher over P3 and P4. We found a nearly significant inverse association between gamma power at F4 and Tower of London performance in the patients, as well as a significant inverse association between gamma power at T5 and verbal memory and working memory scores in the relatives. Conclusion: These results support higher total gamma power in association with schizophrenia and its inverse association with cognitive performance in patients and their first-degree relatives.

Modulation of gamma oscillations in the pedunculopontine nucleus by neuronal calcium sensor protein-1: relevance to schizophrenia and bipolar disorder

“…It is to those patients that pharmacological targeting to increase gamma-band activity may be of benefit. These effects may not apply to those patients that exhibit increased gamma-band activity (Andreou et al 2014;Diez et al 2014), further emphasizing the heterogeneous nature of the population. We have preliminary evidence suggesting that the stimulant modafinil may indeed compensate to some extent for excessive amounts of NCS-1.…”

Circuit- and Diagnosis-Specific DNA Methylation Changes at γ-Aminobutyric Acid–Related Genes in Postmortem Human Hippocampus in Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder

“…This decreased GABAergic tone in the brain of affected individuals is related to the cognitive dysfunction that is a core component of the disorder, 6 and γ-band power, a physiological measure associated with GABAergic tone on electroencephalography, is abnormal in patients with SZ. 7,8 …”

Schneiderian first rank symptoms in schizophrenia: A developmental neuroscience evaluation

“…Moreover, BDNF levels have been noted to effect dopaminergic and GABAergic neurotransmitter pathways (Nieto et al, 2013), whose dysregulation is recognized to underpin aberrant gamma oscillations in schizophrenia (Uhlhaas and Singer, 2013). With empirical evidence accumulating for an association between gamma oscillations and neurocognitive dysfunction (especially working memory) in schizophrenia patients (Díez et al, 2013(Díez et al, , 2014 the present study proposes that aberrant resting gamma oscillations might serve as an electrophysiological-developmental marker for the hierarchical 'cause to effect' path of neurodevelopmental insults → reduced BDNF levels → synaptic dysregulation → neurocognitive dysfunction → self-monitoring deficits. With the findings on the discrimant analysis showing that BDNF levels and gamma power in rIPL accurately classify FRS+, FRS− and healthy controls, we might consider the sub grouping of patients with FRS to correspond to a specific etiological mechanism-aberrant neurodevelopment.…”