Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging study of regional homogeneity in first-episode, antipsychotic-naive patients with schizophrenia

Objective To explore the feature of spontaneous neurons activity of regional brain in unmedicated first-episode schizophrenia patients(FES) during a resting state by functional magnetic resonance imaging(fMRI).Methods 3.0T fMRI was used to assess the whole brain activity of 13 male FES and 13 age-and education-matched healthy male controls in a resting state.The SPM8 and REST softwares combined with regional homogeneity(ReHo) method were applied for fMRI data analysis.Results In comparison with the controls,the patients showed significantly decreased ReHo in right superior frontal gyrus and left thalamus,while significantly increased ReHo was found in right middle temporal gyrus(P0.05).Conclusions This study suggests that altered ReHo in frontal,temporal gyrus and thalamus of resting-state brain activity was found in unmedicated FES.Abberant ReHo would be helpful for better understanding the pathological mechanisms of schizophrenia.