Neural dysconnectivity is hypothesized to be a key element in pathophysiology of schizophrenia. However, the relation of disordered connectivity with the different clinical characteristics of the syndrome is not fully elucidated.

The current research investigated the relations between resting-state EEG Source Functional Connectivity (EEG-SFC) and the two main clusters of negative symptoms derived from the Brief Negative Symptom Scale, the Expressive Deficit (ED) and the Avolition (AV), in subjects with schizophrenia (SCZ) enrolled to the multicentre study of the Italian Network for Research on Psychoses.

Out of 97 chronic, stabilized SCZ included, we selected subjects according the lower and the upper quartile of the ED and AV value distribution: 25 were in upper and 24 in the lower quartile of ED (respectively, HIGH-ED and LOW-ED); 27 were in upper and 24 in the lower quartile of AV (respectively, HIGH-AV and LOW-AV). Fifty-five healthy controls (HC) were included, comparable to SCZ for gender, age and educational level. EEG-SFC analysis was based on the lagged phase synchronization (LPS) computed by eLORETA from 5 minutes resting-state EEG recordings in eyes closed condition. LPS indices were determined for each spectrum band and between all 28 regions of interest (ROI) pairs. Group differences were significant for corrected P-value < 0.05.

SCZ had higher theta band LPS than HC. Respect to LOW-ED, HIGH-ED showed significant increased alpha LPS in fronto-cingulate, para-hippocampal and insular inter-hemispheric ROI pairs. No significant difference emerged between HIGH-AV and LOW-AV.

Subgrouping SCZ according to negative symptom severity reveals heterogeneous patterns of resting-state LPS connectivity.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.