Academic Journal
Divergent cortical-subcortical intrinsic neural timescales in first-episode drug-naïve or minimally treated schizophrenia.
| Τίτλος: | Divergent cortical-subcortical intrinsic neural timescales in first-episode drug-naïve or minimally treated schizophrenia. |
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| Συγγραφείς: | Liu X; Department of Psychiatry, and National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China., Wang F; Department of Psychiatry, and National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China., Wang Y; Department of Psychiatry, and National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China., Zhong M; Department of Psychiatry, and National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China., Huang W; Department of Psychiatry, and National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China., Chen G; Department of Psychiatry, and National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China., Liu Z; Department of Psychiatry, and National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China., Yang J; Department of Psychiatry, and National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China. Electronic address: yang0826@csu.edu.cn. |
| Πηγή: | Asian journal of psychiatry [Asian J Psychiatr] 2026 Sep; Vol. 123, pp. 105112. Date of Electronic Publication: 2026 Aug 07. |
| Τύπος έκδοσης: | Journal Article |
| Γλώσσα: | English |
| Στοιχεία περιοδικού: | Publisher: Elsevier Country of Publication: Netherlands NLM ID: 101517820 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1876-2026 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 18762018 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Asian J Psychiatr Subsets: MEDLINE |
| Imprint Name(s): | Original Publication: [Amsterdam] : Elsevier |
| Ιατρικοί όροι (MeSH): | Schizophrenia*/physiopathology , Schizophrenia*/diagnostic imaging , Nerve Net*/physiopathology , Nerve Net*/diagnostic imaging , Cerebral Cortex*/physiopathology , Cerebral Cortex*/diagnostic imaging , Default Mode Network*/physiopathology , Default Mode Network*/diagnostic imaging, Humans ; Female ; Male ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Adult ; Young Adult |
| Περίληψη: | Background: The neuropathological mechanisms of schizophrenia remain unclear. Intrinsic neural timescale (INT) reflects the temporal organization of neural activity. This study aimed to characterize INT alterations in patients with first-episode schizophrenia who were drug-naïve or minimally treated, while minimizing confounding effects of chronic illness and medication exposure. Methods: Resting-state fMRI data were collected from 123 first-episode, drug-naïve or minimally treated schizophrenia patients and 102 matched healthy controls. INT values were derived from the autocorrelation function of the fMRI signal. Group differences in INT were assessed using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), controlling for age, gender and scanner site. Additional analyses included correlation analyses, gene annotation and enrichment analyses, and spatial correlation analyses. Results: Patients exhibited a divergent cortical-subcortical pattern, characterized by reduced cortical INT and prolonged subcortical INT. Compared with healthy controls, patients showed significant INT alterations in 13 regions of interest (p-fdr < 0.05), predominantly involving the default mode network (5 regions) and subcortical network (4 regions), as well as the sensorimotor network, memory retrieval network, salience network, and ventral attention network. Regions with altered INT were enriched for synapse-related genes, and their spatial distribution was correlated with cerebral blood flow. Conclusions: Our findings show that first-episode drug-naïve or minimally treated schizophrenia patients are characterized by disrupted intrinsic neural timescales with distinct cortical-subcortical alterations. These abnormalities may be related to cerebral perfusion, synaptic function and symptom severity. The distinct cortical-subcortical alterations of INTs may represent a candidate neurobiological marker of early-stage schizophrenia. (Copyright © 2026 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.) |
| Competing Interests: | Declaration of Competing Interest All authors report no potential competing conflicts. |
| Contributed Indexing: | Keywords: Default mode network; Intrinsic neural timescales; Schizophrenia; Sensorimotor network; Subcortical network |
| Entry Date(s): | Date Created: 20260811 Date Completed: 20260820 Latest Revision: 20260820 |
| Update Code: | 20260821 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.ajp.2026.105112 |
| PMID: | 42579964 |
| Βάση Δεδομένων: | MEDLINE |
| ISSN: | 1876-2026 |
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| DOI: | 10.1016/j.ajp.2026.105112 |