Author name cluster

Boqi Du

Possible papers associated with this exact author name in Arrow. This page groups case-insensitive exact name matches and is not a full identity disambiguation profile.

4 papers

1 author row

YNICL Journal 2020 Journal Article

Effect of ZNF804A gene polymorphism (rs1344706) on the plasticity of the functional coupling between the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the contralateral hippocampal formation

Wan Zhao
Xiongying Chen
Qiumei Zhang
Boqi Du
Xiaoxiang Deng
Feng Ji
Yu-Tao Xiang
Chuanyue Wang

ZNF804A has now been recognized as a schizophrenia risk gene by multiple genome-wide association studies with its intronic polymorphism rs1344706 being reported as the first genome-wide significant risk variant for schizophrenia. Although the functional impact of this gene is still unknown, rs1344706's contribution to the functional coupling between the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and the contralateral hippocampal formation (HF) has been reported by several studies. The current study tested whether the right DLPFC-left HF functional coupling showed plasticity during cognitive training (Study I) and whether rs1344706 affected the plasticity (Study II). In Study I, we conducted a randomized controlled trial with 30 subjects receiving 20 sessions of adaptive training on a memory span task (the training group) and 30 subjects practicing on a non-adaptive easy version of the same memory span task for 20 sessions (the control group). All subjects were scanned using fMRI before and after the training. Analyses of resting-state and task-state fMRI data consistently showed that the adaptive memory span training significantly strengthened the right DLPFC-left HF functional coupling. In Study II, we conducted a genetic association study with 101 subjects (combining the data from the training group in Study I with those from an additional subsequent sample of 71 subjects who received the same training and fMRI scans). Results showed that rs1344706 was significantly associated with training-induced changes in functional coupling. Subjects carrying the non-risk allele (C) of rs1344706 showed greater training-induced plasticity than the risk allele (A) homozygotes. These findings expanded our current understanding of the functional impact of the schizophrenia risk variant of ZNF804A gene and suggested that the ZNF804A gene could be used as a prospective target for future antipsychotic drugs and clinical research.

Details DOI

YNICL Journal 2018 Journal Article

Effect of rs1344706 in the ZNF804A gene on the brain network

Xiongying Chen
Zhifang Zhang
Qiumei Zhang
Wan Zhao
Jinguo Zhai
Min Chen
Boqi Du
Xiaoxiang Deng

ZNF804A rs1344706 (A/C) was the first SNP that reached genome-wide significance for schizophrenia. Recent studies have linked rs1344706 to functional connectivity among specific brain regions. However, no study thus far has examined the role of this SNP in the entire functional connectome. In this study, we used degree centrality to test the role of rs1344706 in the whole-brain voxel-wise functional connectome during the resting state. 52 schizophrenia patients and 128 healthy controls were included in the final analysis. In our whole-brain analysis, we found a significant interaction effect of genotype×diagnosis at the precuneus (PCU) (cluster size=52 voxels, peak voxel MNI coordinates: x=9, y=−69, z=63, F =32. 57, FWE corrected P <0. 001). When we subdivided the degree centrality network according to anatomical distance, the whole-brain analysis also found a significant interaction effect of genotype×diagnosis at the PCU with the same peak in the short-range degree centrality network (cluster size=72 voxels, F =37. 29, FWE corrected P <0. 001). No significant result was found in the long-range degree centrality network. Our results elucidated the contribution of rs1344706 to functional connectivity within the brain network, and may have important implications for our understanding of this risk gene's role in functional dysconnectivity in schizophrenia.

Details DOI

YNICL Journal 2018 Journal Article

Polymorphism in schizophrenia risk gene MIR137 is associated with the posterior cingulate Cortex's activation and functional and structural connectivity in healthy controls

Zhifang Zhang
Tongjun Yan
Yanyan Wang
Qiumei Zhang
Wan Zhao
Xiongying Chen
Jinguo Zhai
Min Chen

MIR137 gene has been repeatedly reported as a schizophrenia risk gene in genome-wide association studies (GWAS). A polymorphism (rs1625579) at the MIR137 gene has been associated with both neural activation and behavioral performance during a working memory task. This study examined MIR137's associations with task-related (N-back working memory) fMRI, resting state fMRI, and diffusion tensor images (DTI) data in 177 healthy adults. We found less deactivation of the PCC in risk allele homozygotes (TT) as compared to the GT heterozygotes (cluster size = 630 voxels, cluster level P FWE < 0. 001) during the N-back task, which replicated previous findings. Using the identified cluster within the PCC as the seed, we further found decreased functional connectivity between the PCC and the anterior cingulate cortex and its adjacent medial prefrontal cortex (ACC/MPFC) in risk allele homozygotes during both resting state (cluster size = 427 voxels, cluster level P FWE = 0. 001) and the N-back task (cluster size = 73 voxels, cluster level P FWE = 0. 05). Finally, an analysis of our DTI data showed decreased white matter integrity of the posterior cingulum in risk allele homozygotes (cluster size = 214 voxels, cluster level P FWE = 0. 03). Taken together, rs1625579 seems to play an important role in both functional and structural connectivity between the PCC and the ACC/MPFC, which may serve as the brain mechanisms for the link between rs1625579 and schizophrenia.

Details DOI

YNIMG Journal 2016 Journal Article

Predicting perceptual learning from higher-order cortical processing

Fang Wang
Jing Huang
Yaping Lv
Xiaoli Ma
Bin Yang
Encong Wang
Boqi Du
Wu Li

Visual perceptual learning has been shown to be highly specific to the retinotopic location and attributes of the trained stimulus. Recent psychophysical studies suggest that these specificities, which have been associated with early retinotopic visual cortex, may in fact not be inherent in perceptual learning and could be related to higher-order brain functions. Here we provide direct electrophysiological evidence in support of this proposition. In a series of event-related potential (ERP) experiments, we recorded high-density electroencephalography (EEG) from human adults over the course of learning in a texture discrimination task (TDT). The results consistently showed that the earliest C1 component (68–84ms), known to reflect V1 activity driven by feedforward inputs, was not modulated by learning regardless of whether the behavioral improvement is location specific or not. In contrast, two later posterior ERP components (posterior P1 and P160–350) over the occipital cortex and one anterior ERP component (anterior P160–350) over the prefrontal cortex were progressively modified day by day. Moreover, the change of the anterior component was closely correlated with improved behavioral performance on a daily basis. Consistent with recent psychophysical and imaging observations, our results indicate that perceptual learning can mainly involve changes in higher-level visual cortex as well as in the neural networks responsible for cognitive functions such as attention and decision making.

Details DOI