TY - JOUR TI - The relationship between retinal and cognitive functioning in schizophrenia DO - https://doi.org/doi:10.7282/t3-pxdg-g065 PY - 2019 AB - The retina may provide a unique window into brain structure and function as an accessible part of the central nervous system. Abnormalities in retinal cell structure and function have been associated with brain pathology (e.g., brain volume loss, cognitive impairment, functional disability) in several neuropsychiatric disorders (e.g., Multiple Sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease). A number of prior studies using flash electroretinography (fERG) have observed a reduction in retinal cell activity in schizophrenia (SZ). Impairments in cognitive functioning are a core feature of SZ and deficits in executive control processes involving prefrontal cortex (PFC) activity (i.e., working memory, attention, executive functioning), are strong indicators of functional capacity. However, it is not known how anomalies in retinal cell signaling may relate to cognitive changes in SZ. This study examined whether retinal cell functioning is related to brain function, as indexed by cognitive function, in SZ, and if these relationships were stronger in particular domains (e.g., PFC dependent functions vs. less PFC dependent functions). Twenty-six SZ participants and 24 healthy controls (HC) completed an fERG protocol and cognitive test battery. fERG measurements included a-wave (photoreceptor cells), b-wave (bipolar-Müller cell cells), and oscillatory potential (OP; amacrine cells) amplitudes and implicit times. Cognitive tests assessed executive control processes such as attention/speed of information processing, behavior initiation, response inhibition, and working memory, and non-executive control processes such as emotion recognition and discrimination. fERG and cognitive test data were examined for between-group differences. The relationship between fERG variables and cognitive test scores within each group was assessed with Pearson correlations and hierarchical multiple regression analyses. Canonical correlations were also performed to determine if a set of fERG variables was significantly related to a set of cognitive functioning variables. Our results confirm those of prior studies demonstrating anomalies in a-wave and b-wave activity and lower cognitive test performance in SZ, in comparison to controls. In the HC group, a-wave amplitude was correlated with cognitive test scores and OP amplitude was related to cognitive test performance in the SZ group. However, overall, retinal cell activity did not appear to be strongly related to scores on cognitive tasks, regardless of whether or not they involved frontal brain regions. Thus, impairments in retinal and cognitive functioning may reflect distinct disease mechanisms in schizophrenia. Additional studies of larger sample sizes are needed in order to determine the similarity between retinal cell functioning and cognitive functioning in SZ. KW - Psychology KW - Schizophrenia -- Diagnosis KW - Retina LA - English ER -