Simultaneous fMRI-EEG-DTI recording of MMN in patients with schizophrenia

Abstract

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), electroencephalogram (EEG), and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) recording have complementary spatiotemporal resolution limitations but can be powerful methods when used together to enable both functional and anatomical modeling, with each neuroimaging procedure used to maximum advantage. We recorded EEGs during event-related fMRI followed by DTI in 15 healthy volunteers and 12 patients with schizophrenia using an omission mismatch negativity (MMN) paradigm. Blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) signal changes were calculated in a region of interest (ROI) analysis, and fractional anisotropy (FA) in the white matter fibers related to each area was compared between groups using tract-specific analysis. Patients with schizophrenia had reduced BOLD activity in the left middle temporal gyrus, and BOLD activity in the right insula and right parahippocampal gyrus significantly correlated with positive symptoms on the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and hostility subscores. BOLD activation of Heschl’s gyri also correlated with the limbic system, including the insula. FA values in the left anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) significantly correlated with changes in the BOLD signal in the right superior temporal gyrus (STG), and FA values in the right ACC significantly correlated with PANSS scores. This is the first study to examine MMN using simultaneous fMRI, EEG, and DTI recording in patients with schizophrenia to investigate the potential implications of abnormalities in the ACC and limbic system, including the insula and parahippocampal gyrus, as well as the STG. Structural changes in the ACC during schizophrenia may represent part of the neural basis for the observed MMN deficits. The deficits seen in the feedback/feedforward connections between the prefrontal cortex and STG modulated by the ACC and insula may specifically contribute to impaired MMN generation and clinical manifestations.

Musical Hallucinations in Chronic Pain: The Anterior Cingulate Cortex Regulates Internally Generated Percepts

“…This creates a mismatch in externally directed attention and internal events, a phenomenon described as auditory mismatch negativity (MMN). MMN, a mismatch between sensory memory input and a memory trace of frequent auditory stimuli, has been studied in event related potential (ERP) neuroimaging models to aid the understanding of limbic-cortical structural network dysfunction in schizophrenia patients ( 64 ). Several neuroimaging studies have implicated the ACC as one the sources of MMN, though Kirino et al ( 64 ) was the first to apply simultaneous fMRI, EEG, and DTI methods.…”

A Predictive Coding Perspective on Mismatch Negativity Impairment in Schizophrenia

“…They also found a reduced amplitude of omission MMN in early psychosis. However, Kirino et al showed no significant reduction in omission MMN amplitude in schizophrenia (37).…”

Neuroimaging Methods for Assessment of Cortical Auditory Processing: A Review

“…A sequential EEG-fMRI study during an auditory oddball task showed fMRI activations that were modulated together with the amplitude of the P300 component of event related potentials, allowing better localisation of the underlying P300 generators [189]. Although EEG-fMRI is now quite popular in other fields of research, up to date only a few truly simultaneous (not sequential) ERP-fMRI studies have focused on auditory processing (sound frequency discrimination) [190,191]. In Poland, the Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing in Warsaw was the first to apply simultaneous EEG-fMRI registration to study attention and auditory processing in children [192] and adults [193].…”