Objective: The localized dysfunction of specialized brain regions in schizophrenia patients and their unaffected relatives has been identified in a large-scale brain network; however, evidence is inconsistent. We aimed to identify abnormalities in the localized connectivity in schizophrenia patients and their relatives by conducting a meta-analysis of regional homogeneity (ReHo) studies.
Methods: Fourteen studies on resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging, with 316 schizophrenia patients, 342 healthy controls, and 66 unaffected relatives, were included in the meta-analysis. This analysis was performed using anisotropic effect-size-based signed differential mapping software.
Results: Schizophrenia patients showed increased ReHo in right superior frontal gyrus and right superior temporal gyrus, as well as decreased ReHo in left fusiform gyrus, left superior temporal gyrus, left postcentral gyrus, and right precentral gyrus. Unaffected relatives showed decreased ReHo in right insula and right superior temporal gyrus. These results remained widely unchanged in both sensitivity and subgroup analyses.
Conclusion: Schizophrenia patients and their unaffected relatives had extensive abnormal localized connectivity in cerebrum, especially in superior temporal gyrus, which were the potential diagnostic markers and expounded the pathophysiological hypothesis for the disorder.
Keywords: schizophrenia, localized connectivity, regional homogeneity, resting-state fMRI, meta-analysis, effect-size-based signed differential mapping