Genetic risk for schizophrenia is associated with altered visually-induced gamma band activity: evidence from a population sample stratified polygenic risk

Dimitriadis, S. I ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0000-5392, Perry, G. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0468-0421, Foley, S. F ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8390-2709, Tansey, K. E, Jones, D. K ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4409-8049, Holmans, P. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0870-9412, Zammit, S. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2647-9211, Hall, Jeremy ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2737-9009, O’Donovan, M. C ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7073-2379, Owen, M. J ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4798-0862, Singh, K. D ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3094-2475 and Linden, D. E ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5638-9292 2021. Genetic risk for schizophrenia is associated with altered visually-induced gamma band activity: evidence from a population sample stratified polygenic risk. Translational Psychiatry 11 , 592. 10.1038/s41398-021-01678-z

Preview

PDF - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (1MB) | Preview

Abstract

Gamma oscillations (30–90 Hz) have been proposed as a signature of cortical visual information processing, particularly the balance between excitation and inhibition, and as a biomarker of neuropsychiatric diseases. Magnetoencephalography (MEG) provides highly reliable visual-induced gamma oscillation estimates, both at sensor and source level. Recent studies have reported a deficit of visual gamma activity in schizophrenia patients, in medication naive subjects, and high-risk clinical participants, but the genetic contribution to such a deficit has remained unresolved. Here, for the first time, we use a genetic risk score approach to assess the relationship between genetic risk for schizophrenia and visual gamma activity in a population-based sample drawn from a birth cohort. We compared visual gamma activity in a group (N = 104) with a high genetic risk profile score for schizophrenia (SCZ-PRS) to a group with low SCZ-PRS (N = 99). Source-reconstructed V1 activity was extracted using beamformer analysis applied to MEG recordings using individual MRI scans. No group differences were found in the induced gamma peak amplitude or peak frequency. However, a non-parametric statistical contrast of the response spectrum revealed more robust group differences in the amplitude of high-beta/gamma power across the frequency range, suggesting that overall spectral shape carries important biological information beyond the individual frequency peak. Our findings show that changes in gamma band activity correlate with liability to schizophrenia and suggest that the index changes to synaptic function and neuronal firing patterns that are of pathophysiological relevance rather than consequences of the disorder.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Psychology Medicine Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC)
Additional Information:	This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Publisher:	Springer Nature
ISSN:	2158-3188
Funders:	MRC, Wellcome Trust
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	5 October 2021
Date of Acceptance:	5 October 2021
Last Modified:	11 Oct 2023 22:10
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/144688

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item