Neurochemical and brain functional changes in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex of first-episode psychosis patients: A combined functional magnetic resonance imaging—proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy study

Previous studies showed alterations of brain function in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex of schizophrenia patients. Also, neurochemical changes, especially GABA level alteration, have been found in the medial prefrontal cortex of schizophrenia patients. However, the relationship between GABA level in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and brain functional activity in schizophrenia patients remains unexplored.

In total, 23 drug-naïve, first-episode psychosis patients and 26 matched healthy controls completed the study. The single voxel proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy data were acquired in ventromedial prefrontal cortex region, which was used as the seed region for resting-state functional connectivity analysis. The proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy data were processed to quantify the concentrations of GABA+, glutamine and glutamate, and N-acetylaspartate in ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Spearman correlation analysis was used to examine the relationship between metabolite concentration, functional connectivity and clinical variables. Pearson correlation analysis was used to examine the relationship between GABA+ concentration and functional connectivity value.

In first-episode psychosis patients, GABA+ level in ventromedial prefrontal cortex was higher and was positively correlated with ventromedial prefrontal cortex-left middle orbital frontal cortex functional connectivity. N-acetylaspartate level was positively correlated with positive symptoms, and the functional connectivity between ventromedial prefrontal cortex and left precuneus was negatively associated with negative symptoms of first-episode psychosis patients.

Our results indicated that ventromedial prefrontal cortex functional connectivity changes were positively correlated with higher local GABA+ level in first-episode psychosis patients. The altered neurochemical concentration and functional connectivity provide insights into the pathology of schizophrenia.