TY - JOUR T1 - Increased Functional Coupling between VTA and Hippocampus during Rest in First-Episode Psychosis JF - eneuro JO - eNeuro DO - 10.1523/ENEURO.0375-20.2021 VL - 8 IS - 2 SP - ENEURO.0375-20.2021 AU - David F. Gregory AU - Jane M. Rothrock AU - Maria Jalbrzikowski AU - William Foran AU - David F. Montez AU - Beatriz Luna AU - Vishnu P. Murty Y1 - 2021/03/01 UR - http://www.eneuro.org/content/8/2/ENEURO.0375-20.2021.abstract N2 - Animal models suggest that interactions between the hippocampus and ventral tegmental area (VTA) underlie the onset and etiology of psychosis. While a large body of research has separately characterized alterations in hippocampal and VTA function in psychosis, alterations across the VTA and hippocampus have not been characterized in first-episode psychosis (FEP). As the phase of psychosis most proximal to conversion, studies specifically focused on FEP are valuable to psychosis research. Here, we characterize alterations in VTA-hippocampal interactions across male and female human participants experiencing their first episode of psychosis using resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI). In comparison to age and sex matched healthy controls (HCs), FEP individuals had significantly greater VTA-hippocampal functional coupling but significantly less VTA-striatal functional coupling. Further, increased VTA-hippocampal functional coupling in FEP correlated with individual differences in psychosis-related symptoms. Together, these findings demonstrate alterations in mesolimbic-hippocampal circuits in FEP and extend prominent animal models of psychosis. ER -