Brain abnormalities in schizophrenia have been identified at the microscale (alterations in synaptic connections between neurons) and the macroscale (altered connections between brain regions). Findings of these two levels of abnormalities have emerged separately, but a new study in Biological Psychiatry reports that the microscale and macroscale changes may go hand in hand.
“This study suggests that disturbances in connections between nerve cells in the brain emerge together in schizophrenia,” said John Krystal, Editor of Biological Psychiatry.
Research on the neurobiological origins of schizophrenia indicates a reduction in the density of neuronal spines, where neurons form connections with each other to communicate. In parallel, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies have shown reductions in large-scale white matter, the pathways connecting different brain regions. But how changes in these two levels of connectivity relate in schizophrenia remained an open question.
“This is quite remarkable, as in the end they both describe the same system, namely our brain,” said first author Martijn van den Heuvel, from the University Medical Center Utrecht in The Netherlands. “So in my book, there has to be a link between these two scales of brain organization.”
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Associated Microscale Spine Density and Macroscale Connectivity Disruptions in Schizophrenia. Biological Psychiatry, 2016; 80 (4): 293 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2015.10.005