Alterations in Spontaneous Brain Activity in Drug-Na?ve First-Episode Schizophrenia: An Anatomical/Activation Likelihood Estimation Meta-Analysis

Objective The etiology of schizophrenia is unknown and is associated with abnormal spontaneous brain activity. There are no consis-tent results regarding the change in spontaneous brain activity of people with schizophrenia. In this study, we determined the specific changes in the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation/fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF/fALFF) and regional homogeneity (ReHo) in patients with drug-naive first-episode schizophrenia (Dn-FES). Methods A comprehensive search of databases such as PubMed, Web of Science, and Embase was conducted to find articles on rest-ing-state functional magnetic resonance imaging using ALFF/fALFF and ReHo in schizophrenia patients compared to healthy con-trols (HCs) and then, anatomical/activation likelihood estimation was performed. Results Eighteen eligible studies were included in this meta-analysis. Compared to the spontaneous brain activity of HCs, we found changes in spontaneous brain activity in Dn-FES based on these two methods, mainly including the frontal lobe, putamen, lateral glo-bus pallidus, insula, cerebellum, and posterior cingulate cortex. Conclusion We found that widespread abnormalities of spontaneous brain activity occur in the early stages of the onset of schizo-phrenia and may provide a reference for the early intervention of schizophrenia.