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A neuroanatomical account of mental time travelling in schizophrenia: A meta-analysis of functional and structural neuroimaging data. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2017; 80:211-222. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2017.05.027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/12/2016] [Accepted: 05/29/2017] [Indexed: 01/29/2023]
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Cariaga-Martinez A, Saiz-Ruiz J, Alelú-Paz R. From Linkage Studies to Epigenetics: What We Know and What We Need to Know in the Neurobiology of Schizophrenia. Front Neurosci 2016; 10:202. [PMID: 27242407 PMCID: PMC4862989 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2016.00202] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2016] [Accepted: 04/25/2016] [Indexed: 01/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Schizophrenia is a complex psychiatric disorder characterized by the presence of positive, negative, and cognitive symptoms that lacks a unifying neuropathology. In the present paper, we will review the current understanding of molecular dysregulation in schizophrenia, including genetic and epigenetic studies. In relation to the latter, basic research suggests that normal cognition is regulated by epigenetic mechanisms and its dysfunction occurs upon epigenetic misregulation, providing new insights into missing heritability of complex psychiatric diseases, referring to the discrepancy between epidemiological heritability and the proportion of phenotypic variation explained by DNA sequence difference. In schizophrenia the absence of consistently replicated genetic effects together with evidence for lasting changes in gene expression after environmental exposures suggest a role of epigenetic mechanisms. In this review we will focus on epigenetic modifications as a key mechanism through which environmental factors interact with individual's genetic constitution to affect risk of psychotic conditions throughout life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ariel Cariaga-Martinez
- Laboratory for Neuroscience of Mental Disorders Elena Pessino, Department of Medicine and Medical Specialties, School of Medicine, Alcalá University Madrid, Spain
| | - Jerónimo Saiz-Ruiz
- Department of Psychiatry, Ramón y Cajal Hospital, IRYCISMadrid, Spain; Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM)Madrid, Spain
| | - Raúl Alelú-Paz
- Laboratory for Neuroscience of Mental Disorders Elena Pessino, Department of Medicine and Medical Specialties, School of Medicine, Alcalá UniversityMadrid, Spain; Department of Psychiatry, Ramón y Cajal Hospital, IRYCISMadrid, Spain
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Jukuri T, Kiviniemi V, Nikkinen J, Miettunen J, Mäki P, Mukkala S, Koivukangas J, Nordström T, Moilanen I, Barnett JH, Jones PB, Murray GK, Veijola J. Cerebellar activity in young people with familial risk for psychosis--The Oulu Brain and Mind Study. Schizophr Res 2015; 169:46-53. [PMID: 26527249 DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2015.10.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2015] [Revised: 09/30/2015] [Accepted: 10/06/2015] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE The cerebellum plays a critical role in cognition and behavior. Altered function of the cerebellum has been related to schizophrenia and psychosis but it is not known how this applies to spontaneous resting state activity in young people with familial risk for psychosis. METHODS We conducted resting-state functional MRI (R-fMRI) in 72 (29 male) young adults with a history of psychosis in one or both parents (FR) but without their own psychosis, and 72 (29 male) similarly healthy control subjects without parental psychosis. Both groups in the Oulu Brain and Mind Study were drawn from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986. Participants were 20-25 years old. Parental psychosis was established using the Care Register for Health Care. R-fMRI data pre-processing was conducted using independent component analysis with 30 and 70 components. A dual regression technique was used to detect between-group differences in the cerebellum with p<0.05 threshold corrected for multiple comparisons. RESULTS FR participants demonstrated statistically significantly increased activity compared to control subjects in the anterior lobe of the right cerebellum in the analysis with 70 components. The volume of the increased activity was 73 mm(3). There was no difference between the groups in the analysis with 30 components. CONCLUSION The finding suggests that increased activity of the anterior lobe of the right cerebellum may be associated with increased vulnerability to psychosis. The finding is novel, and needs replication to be confirmed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tuomas Jukuri
- Department of Psychiatry, Research Unit of Clinical Neuroscience, University of Oulu, Finland; Department of Psychiatry, Oulu University Hospital, Finland; Thule Doctoral Programme, University of Oulu, Finland.
| | - Vesa Kiviniemi
- Department of Diagnostic Radiology, MIPT, Oulu University Hospital, Finland; Medical Research Center Oulu, Oulu University Hospital and University of Oulu, Finland
| | - Juha Nikkinen
- Medical Research Center Oulu, Oulu University Hospital and University of Oulu, Finland; Department of Oncology and Radiotherapy, Oulu University Hospital, Finland
| | - Jouko Miettunen
- Department of Psychiatry, Research Unit of Clinical Neuroscience, University of Oulu, Finland; Department of Psychiatry, Oulu University Hospital, Finland; Medical Research Center Oulu, Oulu University Hospital and University of Oulu, Finland; Center for Life Course Epidemiology and Systems Medicine, University of Oulu, Finland
| | - Pirjo Mäki
- Department of Psychiatry, Research Unit of Clinical Neuroscience, University of Oulu, Finland; Department of Psychiatry, Oulu University Hospital, Finland; Medical Research Center Oulu, Oulu University Hospital and University of Oulu, Finland; Department of Psychiatry, Länsi-Pohja Healthcare District, Finland; Department of Psychiatry, The Middle Ostrobothnia Central Hospital, Kiuru, Finland; Mental Health Services, Joint Municipal Authority of Wellbeing in Raahe District, Finland; Mental Health Services, Basic Health Care District of Kallio, Finland; Visala Hospital, The Northern Ostrobothnia Hospital District, Finland
| | - Sari Mukkala
- Department of Psychiatry, Research Unit of Clinical Neuroscience, University of Oulu, Finland; Department of Psychiatry, Oulu University Hospital, Finland
| | - Jenni Koivukangas
- Department of Psychiatry, Research Unit of Clinical Neuroscience, University of Oulu, Finland; Thule Doctoral Programme, University of Oulu, Finland
| | - Tanja Nordström
- Medical Research Center Oulu, Oulu University Hospital and University of Oulu, Finland; Center for Life Course Epidemiology and Systems Medicine, University of Oulu, Finland
| | - Irma Moilanen
- Thule Doctoral Programme, University of Oulu, Finland; Department of Child Psychiatry, Oulu University Hospital and University of Oulu, Finland
| | - Jennifer H Barnett
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, UK; Cambridge Cognition, Cambridge, UK
| | - Peter B Jones
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, UK
| | - Graham K Murray
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, UK
| | - Juha Veijola
- Department of Psychiatry, Research Unit of Clinical Neuroscience, University of Oulu, Finland; Department of Psychiatry, Oulu University Hospital, Finland; Thule Doctoral Programme, University of Oulu, Finland; Medical Research Center Oulu, Oulu University Hospital and University of Oulu, Finland
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Goghari VM, Truong W, Spilka MJ. A magnetic resonance imaging family study of cortical thickness in schizophrenia. Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet 2015; 168:660-8. [PMID: 26235705 DOI: 10.1002/ajmg.b.32354] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/09/2015] [Accepted: 07/10/2015] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Schizophrenia is associated with abnormalities in cortical thickness, including both thicker and thinner cortices than controls. Although less reliably than in patients, non-psychotic relatives of schizophrenia patients have also demonstrated both thicker and thinner cortices than controls, suggesting an effect of familial or genetic liability. We investigated cortical thickness in 25 schizophrenia patients, 26 adult non-psychotic first-degree biological relatives, and 23 community controls using the automated program FreeSurfer. Contrary to hypotheses, we found relatives of schizophrenia patients had greater cortical thickness in all lobes compared to patients and controls; however, this finding was not as widespread when compared to controls. In contrast, schizophrenia patients only demonstrated a thinner right fusiform region than controls and relatives. Our finding of greater thickness in adult biological relatives could represent a maladaptive abnormality or alternatively, a compensatory mechanism. Previous literature suggests that the nature of abnormalities in relatives can vary by the age of relatives and change across the developmental period. Abnormalities in patients may depend on lifestyle factors and on current and previous anti-psychotic medication use. Our results speak to the need to study various populations of patients and relatives across the lifespan to better understand different developmental periods and the impact of environmental factors. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vina M Goghari
- Department of Psychology, Clinical Neuroscience of Schizophrenia (CNS) Laboratory, Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
| | - Wanda Truong
- Department of Psychology, Clinical Neuroscience of Schizophrenia (CNS) Laboratory, Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
| | - Michael J Spilka
- Department of Psychology, Clinical Neuroscience of Schizophrenia (CNS) Laboratory, Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
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Bolbecker AR, Kent JS, Petersen IT, Klaunig MJ, Forsyth JK, Howell JM, Westfall DR, O’Donnell BF, Hetrick WP. Impaired cerebellar-dependent eyeblink conditioning in first-degree relatives of individuals with schizophrenia. Schizophr Bull 2014; 40:1001-10. [PMID: 23962891 PMCID: PMC4133656 DOI: 10.1093/schbul/sbt112] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Consistent with reports of cerebellar structural, functional, and neurochemical anomalies in schizophrenia, robust cerebellar-dependent delay eyeblink conditioning (dEBC) deficits have been observed in the disorder. Impaired dEBC is also present in schizotypal personality disorder, an intermediate phenotype of schizophrenia. The present work sought to determine whether dEBC deficits exist in nonpsychotic first-degree relatives of individuals with schizophrenia. A single-cue tone dEBC paradigm consisting of 10 blocks with 10 trials each (9 paired and 1 unpaired trials) was used to examine the functional integrity of cerebellar circuitry in schizophrenia participants, individuals with a first-degree relative diagnosed with schizophrenia, and healthy controls with no first-degree relatives diagnosed with schizophrenia. The conditioned stimulus (a 400ms tone) coterminated with the unconditioned stimulus (a 50ms air puff to the left eye) on paired trials. One relative and 2 healthy controls were removed from further analysis due to declining conditioned response rates, leaving 18 schizophrenia participants, 17 first-degree relatives, and 16 healthy controls. Electromyographic data were subsequently analyzed using growth curve models in hierarchical linear regression. Acquisition of dEBC conditioned responses was significantly impaired in schizophrenia and first-degree relative groups compared with controls. This finding that cerebellar-mediated associative learning deficits are present in first-degree relatives of individuals with schizophrenia provides evidence that dEBC abnormalities in schizophrenia may not be due to medication or course of illness effects. Instead, the present results are consistent with models of schizophrenia positing cerebellar-cortical circuit abnormalities and suggest that cerebellar abnormalities represent a risk marker for the disorder.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Jerillyn S. Kent
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
| | - Isaac T. Petersen
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
| | | | | | | | | | | | - William P. Hetrick
- *To whom correspondence should be addressed; Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, 1101 E. 10th Street, Bloomington, IN 47405, US; tel: 812-855-2620, fax: 812-856-4544, e-mail:
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Fusar-Poli P, Smieskova R, Serafini G, Politi P, Borgwardt S. Neuroanatomical markers of genetic liability to psychosis and first episode psychosis: a voxelwise meta-analytical comparison. World J Biol Psychiatry 2014; 15:219-28. [PMID: 22283467 DOI: 10.3109/15622975.2011.630408] [Citation(s) in RCA: 72] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/17/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES To address at a meta-analytical level the neuroanatomical markers of genetic liability to psychosis and a of first episode of psychosis. METHODS Fifteen voxel-based morphometry (VBM) studies of antipsychotic-naive subjects at genetic high-risk (HR) for psychosis or with a first-episode psychosis (FEP) were included in a Signed Differential Mapping (SDM) meta-analysis. Publication bias was assessed with funnel plots and Egger's intercept. Heterogeneity was assessed with Q statistics and I (2) index. RESULTS The database comprised 458 HR and 206 antipsychotic-naïve FEP subjects, matched with controls. Gray matter (GM) reductions as compared to controls, were observed in the left parahippocampal gyrus and in the bilateral anterior cingulate gyrus in the HR group, and in the right superior temporal gyrus, in the left insula and in the left cerebellum in the FEP group. Further GM decreases were observed in the FEP group as compared to the HR group in the left anterior cingulate, in the right precuneus, in the left cerebellum and in the right superior temporal gyrus. Limitations. The cross-sectional nature of the included studies prevented the comparison of high risk subjects who later did or did not develop a psychotic episode. Other caveats are based on the methodological heterogeneity across individual imaging studies. CONCLUSIONS GM reductions in the anterior cingulate are markers of genetic liability to psychosis while reductions in the superior temporal gyrus and cerebellum can be interpreted as markers of a first onset of the illness.
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Affiliation(s)
- P Fusar-Poli
- Department of Psychosis Studies, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London , London , UK
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Motor function deficits in schizophrenia: an fMRI and VBM study. Neuroradiology 2014; 56:413-22. [PMID: 24562867 DOI: 10.1007/s00234-014-1325-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/20/2013] [Accepted: 01/09/2014] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION To investigate whether the motor functional alterations in schizophrenia (SZ) are also associated with structural changes in the related brain areas using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and voxel-based morphometry (VBM). METHODS A sample of 14 right-handed SZ patients and 14 right-handed healthy control subjects matched for age, sex, and education were examined with structural high-resolution T1-weighted MRI; fMRI images were obtained during right index finger-tapping task in the same session. RESULTS fMRI results showed reduced functional activation in the motor areas (contralateral precentral and postcentral gyrus) and ipsilateral cerebellum in SZ subjects as compared to healthy controls (n = 14). VBM analysis also revealed reduced grey matter in motor areas and white matter reduction in cerebellum of SZ subjects as compared to controls. CONCLUSION The present study provides an evidence for a possible association between structural alterations in the motor cortex and disturbed functional activation in the motor areas in persons affected with SZ during a simple finger-tapping task.
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Cooper D, Barker V, Radua J, Fusar-Poli P, Lawrie SM. Multimodal voxel-based meta-analysis of structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging studies in those at elevated genetic risk of developing schizophrenia. Psychiatry Res 2014; 221:69-77. [PMID: 24239093 DOI: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2013.07.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 82] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/10/2012] [Revised: 07/03/2013] [Accepted: 07/25/2013] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Abstract
Computational brain-imaging studies of individuals at familial high risk for psychosis have provided interesting results, but interpreting these findings can be a challenge due to a number of factors. We searched the literature for studies reporting whole brain voxel-based morphometry (VBM) or functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) findings in people at familial high risk for schizophrenia compared with a control group. A voxel-wise meta-analysis with the effect-size version of Signed Differential Mapping (ES-SDM) identified regional abnormalities of functional brain response. Similarly, an ES-SDM meta-analysis was conducted on VBM studies. A multi-modal imaging meta-analysis was used to highlight brain regions with both structural and functional abnormalities. Nineteen studies met the inclusion criteria, in which a total of 815 familial high-risk individuals were compared to 685 controls. Our fMRI results revealed a number of regions of altered activation. VBM findings demonstrated both increases and decreases in grey matter density of relatives in a variety of brain regions. The multimodal analysis revealed relatives had decreased grey matter with hyper-activation in the left inferior frontal gyrus/amygdala, and decreased grey matter with hypo-activation in the thalamus. We found several regions of altered activation or structure in familial high-risk individuals. Reliable fMRI findings in the right posterior superior temporal gyrus further confirm that alteration in this area is a potential marker of risk.
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Affiliation(s)
- Deborah Cooper
- Division of Psychiatry, School of Clinical Sciences, Kennedy Tower, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Morningside, Edinburgh, EH10 5HF, UK.
| | - Victoria Barker
- Division of Psychiatry, School of Clinical Sciences, Kennedy Tower, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Morningside, Edinburgh, EH10 5HF, UK
| | - Joaquim Radua
- Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, London, UK; FIDMAG Research Unit, CIBERSAM, Sant Boi de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain
| | | | - Stephen M Lawrie
- Division of Psychiatry, School of Clinical Sciences, Kennedy Tower, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Morningside, Edinburgh, EH10 5HF, UK
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Xiao Y, Zhang W, Lui S, Yao L, Gong Q. Similar and different gray matter deficits in schizophrenia patients and their unaffected biological relatives. Front Psychiatry 2013; 4:150. [PMID: 24319433 PMCID: PMC3836186 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2013.00150] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/16/2013] [Accepted: 11/07/2013] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Neuroimaging studies have revealed significant reductions in the gray matter (GM) of several brain regions in patients with schizophrenia, a neuropsychiatric disorder with high hereditability. However, it is unclear whether unaffected relatives have GM abnormalities in common with their affected relatives, which may relate to susceptibility to developing schizophrenia. To address this issue, we conducted two separate meta-analyses of voxel-based morphometry to investigate GM abnormalities in schizophrenia patients and their unaffected relatives. One meta-analysis compared a patient group with healthy controls, whereas the other meta-analysis compared the unaffected relatives with healthy controls. Eight studies comprising 495 patients with schizophrenia, 584 unaffected relatives of patients, and 596 healthy controls were systematically included in the present study. Compared to healthy controls, the patient group showed decreased GM in the right cuneus, the right superior frontal gyrus, the right insula and the left claustrum, and increased GM in the bilateral putamen, the right parahippocampal gyrus, the left precentral gyrus, the left inferior temporal gyri, and the right cerebellar tonsil. The comparison between unaffected relatives and healthy controls showed a GM reduction in the left claustrum, the bilateral parahippocampal gyri, the left fusiform gyrus, the right inferior temporal gyrus, and the bilateral medial prefrontal cortices, whereas increased GM was observed in the right hippocampus, the right fusiform gyrus, the right precentral gyrus, and the right precuneus. Thus, our meta-analyses show that the GM changes in schizophrenia patients and their unaffected relatives are largely different, although there is subtle overlap in some regions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuan Xiao
- Department of Radiology, Huaxi MR Research Center (HMRRC), West China Hospital, Sichuan University , Chengdu , China
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Anderson D, Ardekani BA, Burdick KE, Robinson DG, John M, Malhotra AK, Szeszko PR. Overlapping and distinct gray and white matter abnormalities in schizophrenia and bipolar I disorder. Bipolar Disord 2013; 15:680-93. [PMID: 23796123 PMCID: PMC3762889 DOI: 10.1111/bdi.12096] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/09/2012] [Accepted: 01/13/2013] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder may share common neurobiological mechanisms, but few studies have directly compared gray and white matter structure in these disorders. We used diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging and a region of interest based analysis to identify overlapping and distinct gray and white matter abnormalities in 35 patients with schizophrenia and 20 patients with bipolar I disorder in comparison to 56 healthy volunteers. METHODS We examined fractional anisotropy within the white matter and mean diffusivity within the gray matter in 42 regions of interest defined on a probabilistic atlas following non-linear registration of the images to atlas space. RESULTS Patients with schizophrenia had significantly lower fractional anisotropy in temporal (superior temporal and parahippocampal) and occipital (superior and middle occipital) white matter compared to patients with bipolar disorder and healthy volunteers. By contrast, both patient groups demonstrated significantly higher mean diffusivity in frontal (inferior frontal and lateral orbitofrontal) and temporal (superior temporal and parahippocampal) gray matter compared to healthy volunteers, but did not differ from each other. CONCLUSIONS Our study implicates overlapping gray matter frontal and temporal lobe structural alterations in the neurobiology of schizophrenia and bipolar I disorder, but suggests that temporal and occipital lobe white matter deficits may be an additional risk factor for schizophrenia. Our findings may have relevance for future diagnostic classification systems and the identification of susceptibility genes for these disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dana Anderson
- The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, North Shore-LIJ Health System, Manhasset, NY,The Zucker Hillside Hospital, North Shore-LIJ Health System, Glen Oaks, NY
| | - Babak A. Ardekani
- The Nathan S. Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, Orangeburg, NY
| | - Katherine E. Burdick
- Departments of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, NY, NY
| | - Delbert G. Robinson
- The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, North Shore-LIJ Health System, Manhasset, NY,The Zucker Hillside Hospital, North Shore-LIJ Health System, Glen Oaks, NY,Hofstra North Shore – LIJ School of Medicine, Departments of Psychiatry and Molecular Medicine, Hempstead, NY, USA
| | - Majnu John
- The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, North Shore-LIJ Health System, Manhasset, NY,The Zucker Hillside Hospital, North Shore-LIJ Health System, Glen Oaks, NY
| | - Anil K. Malhotra
- The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, North Shore-LIJ Health System, Manhasset, NY,The Zucker Hillside Hospital, North Shore-LIJ Health System, Glen Oaks, NY,Hofstra North Shore – LIJ School of Medicine, Departments of Psychiatry and Molecular Medicine, Hempstead, NY, USA
| | - Philip R. Szeszko
- The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, North Shore-LIJ Health System, Manhasset, NY,The Zucker Hillside Hospital, North Shore-LIJ Health System, Glen Oaks, NY,Hofstra North Shore – LIJ School of Medicine, Departments of Psychiatry and Molecular Medicine, Hempstead, NY, USA
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Dean AM, Goodby E, Ooi C, Nathan PJ, Lennox BR, Scoriels L, Shabbir S, Suckling J, Jones PB, Bullmore ET, Barnes A. Speed of facial affect intensity recognition as an endophenotype of first-episode psychosis and associated limbic-cortical grey matter systems. Psychol Med 2013; 43:591-602. [PMID: 22703698 DOI: 10.1017/s0033291712001341] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Psychotic disorders are highly heritable such that the unaffected relatives of patients may manifest characteristics, or endophenotypes, that are more closely related to risk genes than the overt clinical condition. Facial affect processing is dependent on a distributed cortico-limbic network that is disrupted in psychosis. This study assessed facial affect processing and related brain structure as a candidate endophenotype of first-episode psychosis (FEP). METHOD Three samples comprising 30 FEP patients, 30 of their first-degree relatives and 31 unrelated healthy controls underwent assessment of facial affect processing and structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI) data. Multivariate analysis (partial least squares, PLS) was used to identify a grey matter (GM) system in which anatomical variation was associated with variation in facial affect processing speed. RESULTS The groups did not differ in their accuracy of facial affect intensity rating but differed significantly in speed of response, with controls responding faster than relatives, who responded faster than patients. Within the control group, variation in speed of affect processing was significantly associated with variation of GM density in amygdala, lateral temporal cortex, frontal cortex and cerebellum. However, this association between cortico-limbic GM density and speed of facial affect processing was absent in patients and their relatives. CONCLUSIONS Speed of facial affect processing presents as a candidate endophenotype of FEP. The normal association between speed of facial affect processing and cortico-limbic GM variation was disrupted in FEP patients and their relatives.
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Affiliation(s)
- A M Dean
- Brain Mapping Unit, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, UK.
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12
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Palaniyappan L, Balain V, Liddle PF. The neuroanatomy of psychotic diathesis: a meta-analytic review. J Psychiatr Res 2012; 46:1249-56. [PMID: 22790253 DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2012.06.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2012] [Revised: 05/24/2012] [Accepted: 06/13/2012] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Several studies have found widespread structural changes affecting the grey matter at various stages of schizophrenia (the prodrome, first-episode, and the chronic stage). It is unclear which of these neuroanatomical changes are associated with a predisposition or vulnerability to develop schizophrenia rather than the appearance of the clinical features of the illness. METHODS 16 voxel-based morphometry (VBM) analyses involving 733 genetically high-risk relatives (HRR) of patients with schizophrenia, 563 healthy controls and 474 patients were meta-analysed using the Signed Differential Mapping (SDM) technique. Two meta-analyses were conducted, with one comparing HRR group with healthy controls and the other comparing HRR group with the patients. RESULTS A significant grey matter reduction in the lentiform nucleus, amygdala/parahippocampal gyrus and medial prefrontal cortex was seen in association with the genetic diathesis. Grey matter reduction in bilateral insula, inferior frontal gyrus, superior temporal gyrus and the anterior cingulate was seen in association with the disease expression. CONCLUSIONS The neuroanatomical changes associated with the genetic diathesis to develop schizophrenia appear to be different from those that contribute to the clinical expression of the illness. Grey matter abnormalities in multimodal brain regions that have a supervisory function are likely to be central to the expression of the clinical symptoms of schizophrenia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lena Palaniyappan
- Division of Psychiatry, University of Nottingham, A Floor, South Block, Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham NG7 2UH, United Kingdom.
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13
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Bora E, Fornito A, Yücel M, Pantelis C. The effects of gender on grey matter abnormalities in major psychoses: a comparative voxelwise meta-analysis of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Psychol Med 2012; 42:295-307. [PMID: 21835091 DOI: 10.1017/s0033291711001450] [Citation(s) in RCA: 107] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Recent evidence from genetic and familial studies revitalized the debate concerning the validity of the distinction between schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Comparing brain imaging findings is an important avenue to examine similarities and differences and, therefore, the validity of the distinction between these conditions. However, in contrast to bipolar disorder, most patient samples in studies of schizophrenia are predominantly male. This a limiting factor for comparing schizophrenia and bipolar disorder since male gender is associated with more severe neurodevelopmental abnormalities, negative symptoms and cognitive deficits in schizophrenia. METHOD We used a coordinate-based meta-analysis technique to compare grey matter (GM) abnormalities in male-dominated schizophrenia, gender-balanced schizophrenia and bipolar disorder samples based on published voxel-based morphometry (VBM) studies. In total, 72 English-language, peer reviewed articles published prior to January 2011 were included. All reports used VBM for comparing schizophrenia or bipolar disorder with controls and reported whole-brain analyses in standard stereotactic space. RESULTS GM reductions were more extensive in male-dominated schizophrenia compared to gender-balanced bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. In gender-balanced samples, GM reductions were less severe. Compared to controls, GM reductions were restricted to dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in schizophrenia and ACC and bilateral fronto-insular cortex in bipolar disorder. CONCLUSIONS When gender is controlled, GM abnormalities in bipolar disorder and schizophrenia are mostly restricted to regions that have a role in emotional and cognitive aspects of salience respectively. Dorsomedial and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex were the only regions that showed greater GM reductions in schizophrenia compared to bipolar disorder.
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Affiliation(s)
- E Bora
- Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne and Melbourne Health, VIC, Australia
| | - A Fornito
- Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne and Melbourne Health, VIC, Australia
| | - M Yücel
- Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne and Melbourne Health, VIC, Australia
| | - C Pantelis
- Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne and Melbourne Health, VIC, Australia
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Palaniyappan L, Liddle PF. Does the salience network play a cardinal role in psychosis? An emerging hypothesis of insular dysfunction. J Psychiatry Neurosci 2012; 37:17-27. [PMID: 21693094 PMCID: PMC3244495 DOI: 10.1503/jpn.100176] [Citation(s) in RCA: 366] [Impact Index Per Article: 30.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The insular cortex is one of the brain regions that show consistent abnormalities in both structural and functional neuroimaging studies of schizophrenia. In healthy individuals, the insula has been implicated in a myriad of physiologic functions. The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and insula together constitute the salience network, an intrinsic large-scale network showing strong functional connectivity. Considering the insula as a functional unit along with the ACC provides an integrated understanding of the role of the insula in information processing. In this review, we bring together evidence from imaging studies to understand the role of the salience network in schizophrenia and propose a model of insular dysfunction in psychosis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lena Palaniyappan
- Division of Psychiatry, University of Nottingham, Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham, United Kingdom.
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15
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Brown P. Time engineering in the schizophrenias. Conscious Cogn 2011; 20:1055-8. [DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2010.12.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2010] [Accepted: 12/06/2010] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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16
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Waters-Metenier S, Toulopoulou T. Putative structural neuroimaging endophenotypes in schizophrenia: a comprehensive review of the current evidence. FUTURE NEUROLOGY 2011. [DOI: 10.2217/fnl.11.35] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
The genetic contribution to schizophrenia etiopathogenesis is underscored by the fact that the best predictor of developing schizophrenia is having an affected first-degree relative, which increases lifetime risk by tenfold, as well as the observation that when both parents are affected, the risk of schizophrenia increases to approximately 50%, compared with 1% in the general population. The search to elucidate the complex genetic architecture of schizophrenia has employed various approaches, including twin and family studies to examine co-aggregation of brain abnormalities, studies on genetic linkage and studies using genome-wide association to identify genetic variations associated with schizophrenia. ‘Endophenotypes’, or ‘intermediate phenotypes’, are potentially narrower constructs of genetic risk. Hypothetically, they are intermediate in the pathway between genetic variation and clinical phenotypes and can supposedly be implemented to assist in the identification of genetic diathesis for schizophrenia and, possibly, in redefining clinical phenomenology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sheena Waters-Metenier
- Department of Psychosis Studies, King’s College London, King’s Health Partners, Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK
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17
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Waters-Metenier SL, Toulopoulou T. Putative diffusion tensor neuroimaging endophenotypes in schizophrenia: a review of the early evidence. FUTURE NEUROLOGY 2011. [DOI: 10.2217/fnl.11.16] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Although schizophrenia has a high heritability, the genetic effects conferring diathesis to schizophrenia are thought to be complex and underlain by multifactorial polygenic inheritance. ‘Endophenotypes’, or ‘intermediate phenotypes’, are narrowed constructs of genetic risk that are assumed to be more proximal to the gene effects in the disease pathway than clinical phenotypes. A current aim in schizophrenia research is to identify promising putative endophenotypes for use in molecular genetics studies. Recently, much of the focus has been on neurocognitive, conventional T1-weighted structural MRI, functional MRI and electrophysiological endophenotypes. Diffusion tensor imaging has emerged as another important structural neuroimaging modality in the aim to identify abnormalities in brain connectivity and diffusivity in schizophrenia, and abnormalities detected via this method may be promising candidate endophenotypes. In this article, we present the first comprehensive review of the early evidence that qualifies diffusion tensor abnormalities as potentially appropriate endophenotypes of schizophrenia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sheena Lindsey Waters-Metenier
- Department of Psychosis Studies, King’s College London, King’s Health Partners, Institute of Psychiatry, London SE5 8AF, UK
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18
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Bora E, Fornito A, Radua J, Walterfang M, Seal M, Wood SJ, Yücel M, Velakoulis D, Pantelis C. Neuroanatomical abnormalities in schizophrenia: a multimodal voxelwise meta-analysis and meta-regression analysis. Schizophr Res 2011; 127:46-57. [PMID: 21300524 DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2010.12.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 338] [Impact Index Per Article: 26.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2010] [Revised: 12/20/2010] [Accepted: 12/27/2010] [Indexed: 01/11/2023]
Abstract
Despite an increasing number of published voxel based morphometry studies of schizophrenia, there has been no adequate attempt to examine gray (GM) and white matter (WM) abnormalities and the heterogeneity of published findings. In the current article, we used a coordinate based meta-analysis technique to simultaneously examine GM and WM abnormalities in schizophrenia and to assess the effects of gender, chronicity, negative symptoms and other clinical variables. 79 studies meeting our inclusion criteria were included in the meta-analysis. Schizophrenia was associated with GM reductions in the bilateral insula/inferior frontal cortex, superior temporal gyrus, anterior cingulate gyrus/medial frontal cortex, thalamus and left amygdala. In WM analyses of volumetric and diffusion-weighted images, schizophrenia was associated with decreased FA and/or WM in interhemispheric fibers, anterior thalamic radiation, inferior longitudinal fasciculi, inferior frontal occipital fasciculi, cingulum and fornix. Male gender, chronic illness and negative symptoms were associated with more severe GM abnormalities and illness chronicity was associated with more severe WM deficits. The meta-analyses revealed overlapping GM and WM structural findings in schizophrenia, characterized by bilateral anterior cortical, limbic and subcortical GM abnormalities, and WM changes in regions including tracts that connect these structures within and between hemispheres. However, the available findings are biased towards characteristics of schizophrenia samples with poor prognosis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emre Bora
- Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne and Melbourne Health, Level 3, National Neuroscience Facility, Alan Gilbert Building, 161, Barry St, Carlton South, VIC, 3053, Australia.
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19
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Fusar-Poli P, Borgwardt S, Crescini A, Deste G, Kempton MJ, Lawrie S, Mc Guire P, Sacchetti E. Neuroanatomy of vulnerability to psychosis: A voxel-based meta-analysis. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2011; 35:1175-85. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2010.12.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 239] [Impact Index Per Article: 18.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2010] [Revised: 12/07/2010] [Accepted: 12/10/2010] [Indexed: 01/20/2023]
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20
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Chan RCK, Di X, McAlonan GM, Gong QY. Brain anatomical abnormalities in high-risk individuals, first-episode, and chronic schizophrenia: an activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis of illness progression. Schizophr Bull 2011; 37:177-88. [PMID: 19633214 PMCID: PMC3004195 DOI: 10.1093/schbul/sbp073] [Citation(s) in RCA: 240] [Impact Index Per Article: 18.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE The present study reviewed voxel-based morphometry (VBM) studies on high-risk individuals with schizophrenia, patients experiencing their first-episode schizophrenia (FES), and those with chronic schizophrenia. We predicted that gray matter abnormalities would show progressive changes, with most extensive abnormalities in the chronic group relative to FES and least in the high-risk group. METHOD Forty-one VBM studies were reviewed. Eight high-risk studies, 14 FES studies, and 19 chronic studies were analyzed using anatomical likelihood estimation meta-analysis. RESULTS Less gray matter in the high-risk group relative to controls was observed in anterior cingulate regions, left amygdala, and right insula. Lower gray matter volumes in FES compared with controls were also found in the anterior cingulate and right insula but not the amygdala. Lower gray matter volumes in the chronic group were most extensive, incorporating similar regions to those found in FES and high-risk groups but extending to superior temporal gyri, thalamus, posterior cingulate, and parahippocampal gryus. Subtraction analysis revealed less frontotemporal, striatal, and cerebellar gray matter in FES than the high-risk group; the high-risk group had less gray matter in left subcallosal gyrus, left amygdala, and left inferior frontal gyrus compared with FES. Subtraction analysis confirmed lower gray matter volumes through ventral-dorsal anterior cingulate, right insula, left amygdala and thalamus in chronic schizophrenia relative to FES. CONCLUSIONS Frontotemporal brain structural abnormalities are evident in nonpsychotic individuals at high risk of developing schizophrenia. The present meta-analysis indicates that these gray matter abnormalities become more extensive through first-episode and chronic illness. Thus, schizophrenia appears to be a progressive cortico-striato-thalamic loop disorder.
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Affiliation(s)
- Raymond C. K. Chan
- Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory,Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 4A Datun Road, Beijing 100101, China,Department of Psychiatry, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China,To whom correspondence should be addressed;
| | - Xin Di
- Department of Psychology, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Grainne M. McAlonan
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China,State key laboratory for Brain and Cognitive Sciences, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China
| | - Qi-yong Gong
- Huaxi MR Research Centre, Department of Radiology, West China Hospital / West China School of Medicine, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
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21
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Yu K, Cheung C, Leung M, Li Q, Chua S, McAlonan G. Are Bipolar Disorder and Schizophrenia Neuroanatomically Distinct? An Anatomical Likelihood Meta-analysis. Front Hum Neurosci 2010; 4:189. [PMID: 21103008 PMCID: PMC2987512 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2010.00189] [Citation(s) in RCA: 70] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2010] [Accepted: 09/22/2010] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Objective: There is renewed debate on whether modern diagnostic classification should adopt a dichotomous or dimensional approach to schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. This study synthesizes data from voxel-based studies of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder to estimate the extent to which these conditions have a common neuroanatomical phenotype. Methods: A post-hoc meta-analytic estimation of the extent to which bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or both conditions contribute to brain gray matter differences compared to controls was achieved using a novel application of the conventional anatomical likelihood estimation (ALE) method. 19 schizophrenia studies (651 patients and 693 controls) were matched as closely as possible to 19 bipolar studies (540 patients and 745 controls). Result: Substantial overlaps in the regions affected by schizophrenia and bipolar disorder included regions in prefrontal cortex, thalamus, left caudate, left medial temporal lobe, and right insula. Bipolar disorder and schizophrenia jointly contributed to clusters in the right hemisphere, but schizophrenia was almost exclusively associated with additional gray matter deficits (left insula and amygdala) in the left hemisphere. Limitation: The current meta-analytic method has a number of constraints. Importantly, only studies identifying differences between controls and patient groups could be included in this analysis. Conclusion: Bipolar disorder shares many of the same brain regions as schizophrenia. However, relative to neurotypical controls, lower gray matter volume in schizophrenia is more extensive and includes the amygdala. This fresh application of ALE accommodates multiple studies in a relatively unbiased comparison. Common biological mechanisms may explain the neuroanatomical overlap between these major disorders, but explaining why brain differences are more extensive in schizophrenia remains challenging.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kevin Yu
- Department of Psychiatry, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong Pokfulam, Hong Kong
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22
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Lencz T, Szeszko PR, DeRosse P, Burdick KE, Bromet EJ, Bilder RM, Malhotra AK. A schizophrenia risk gene, ZNF804A, influences neuroanatomical and neurocognitive phenotypes. Neuropsychopharmacology 2010; 35:2284-91. [PMID: 20664580 PMCID: PMC2939918 DOI: 10.1038/npp.2010.102] [Citation(s) in RCA: 79] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/22/2023]
Abstract
ZNF804A is one of the strongest candidate genes for schizophrenia (SZ), yet its function and role in disease pathophysiology are largely unknown. The only in vivo endophenotype study of the SZ-associated SNP (rs1344706) pointed towards effects on brain functional connectivity. We examined the relationship of this SNP to neuroanatomical and neurocognitive phenotypes that were assessed in healthy individuals. Volunteers with no history of psychiatric illness were assessed with structural magnetic resonance imaging (1.5T GE scanner, standard gradient-echo acquisition). Carriers of the minor allele were compared with homozygotes for the T (SZ-associated) allele on measures of total volume of the white matter (WM), gray matter (GM), and cerebrospinal fluid compartments, as well as on voxel-wise measurements of regional brain volumes. After examining the correlation between genotype-associated regions of interest and neurocognitive performance measures, the effects of rs1344706 genotype on a measure of visuomotor performance speed (trails A) were examined in an independent cohort of volunteers. Among healthy subjects, risk allele homozygotes showed larger total WM volumes than carriers of the other allele. Controlling for WM volumes, these same subjects showed reduced GM volumes in several regions comprising the 'default mode network,' including angular gyrus, parahippocampal gyrus, posterior cingulate, and medial orbitofrontal gyrus/gyrus rectus (FDR-corrected p<0.05). The risk allele dosage also predicted impairments on a timed visuomotor performance task (trails A). Results support a role of ZNF804A in phenotypes reflecting altered neural connectivity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Todd Lencz
- Department of Psychiatry, Division of Research, The Zucker Hillside Hospital Division of the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, Glen Oaks, NY 11004, USA.
| | - Philip R Szeszko
- Department of Psychiatry, Division of Research, The Zucker Hillside Hospital Division of the North Shore—Long Island Jewish Health System, Glen Oaks, NY, USA,Center of Psychiatric Neuroscience, The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, Manhasset, NY, USA,Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, Bronx, NY, USA
| | - Pamela DeRosse
- Center of Psychiatric Neuroscience, The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, Manhasset, NY, USA
| | - Katherine E Burdick
- Department of Psychiatry, Division of Research, The Zucker Hillside Hospital Division of the North Shore—Long Island Jewish Health System, Glen Oaks, NY, USA,Center of Psychiatric Neuroscience, The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, Manhasset, NY, USA,Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, Bronx, NY, USA
| | - Evelyn J Bromet
- Department of Psychiatry, SUNY Stony Brook School of Medicine, Stony Brook, NY, USA
| | - Robert M Bilder
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Anil K Malhotra
- Department of Psychiatry, Division of Research, The Zucker Hillside Hospital Division of the North Shore—Long Island Jewish Health System, Glen Oaks, NY, USA,Center of Psychiatric Neuroscience, The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, Manhasset, NY, USA,Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, Bronx, NY, USA
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23
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Tanskanen P, Ridler K, Murray GK, Haapea M, Veijola JM, Jääskeläinen E, Miettunen J, Jones PB, Bullmore ET, Isohanni MK. Morphometric brain abnormalities in schizophrenia in a population-based sample: relationship to duration of illness. Schizophr Bull 2010; 36:766-77. [PMID: 19015212 PMCID: PMC2894604 DOI: 10.1093/schbul/sbn141] [Citation(s) in RCA: 68] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Biased recruitment and sample selection may cause variability in neuroimaging studies. Epidemiologically principled population-based magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies of schizophrenia are very rare. We gathered structural MRI data on 154 subjects from the Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort, aged 33-35 (100 controls, 54 schizophrenia patients). Regional differences in density of gray matter, white matter, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) were identified between groups using nonparametric statistical analysis, and the relationship of the regional differences to duration of illness was explored. Gray matter reductions were found bilaterally in the cerebellum, thalamus, basal ganglia, middle frontal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus, precentral gyrus, insula, superior temporal gyrus, fusiform gyrus, parahippocampal gyrus, cuneus, and lingual gyrus; in the left posterior cingulate, superior frontal gyrus, transverse temporal gyrus, and precuneus; and in the right postcentral gyrus. Gray matter excesses were observed bilaterally in the basal ganglia, anterior cingulate, and medial orbitofrontal cortices. There were white matter deficits in an extensive network including inter- and intrahemispheric tracts bilaterally in the frontal, temporal, parietal, and occipital lobes, subcortical structures, cerebellum, and brain stem. CSF excesses were found bilaterally in the lateral ventricles, third ventricle, interhemispheric, and left Sylvian fissure. We replicated the previous findings of structural brain abnormalities in schizophrenia on a general population level. Gray and white matter deficits were associated with duration of illness suggesting either that developmental brain deficits relate to an earlier age of onset or that brain abnormalities in schizophrenia are progressive in nature.
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Affiliation(s)
- Päivikki Tanskanen
- Department of Diagnostic Radiology, University of Oulu, FIN-90029 OYS, Oulu, Finland.
| | - Khanum Ridler
- GlaxoSmithKline Clinical Imaging Centre, Imperial College London, Hammersmith Hospital, Du Cane Road, London W12 0NN, UK,Brain Mapping Unit, Department of Psychiatry, Addenbrooke's Hospital, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 2QQ, UK
| | - Graham K. Murray
- Brain Mapping Unit, Department of Psychiatry, Addenbrooke's Hospital, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 2QQ, UK
| | - Marianne Haapea
- Department of Diagnostic Radiology, University of Oulu, FIN-90029 OYS, Oulu, Finland,Department of Psychiatry, University of Oulu, FIN-90014 Oulu, Finland
| | - Juha M. Veijola
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Oulu, FIN-90014 Oulu, Finland,Academy of Finland, PL 99, FIN-00501 Helsinki, Finland
| | | | - Jouko Miettunen
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Oulu, FIN-90014 Oulu, Finland
| | - Peter B. Jones
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge CB2 2QQ, UK
| | - Edward T. Bullmore
- Brain Mapping Unit, Department of Psychiatry, Addenbrooke's Hospital, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 2QQ, UK
| | - Matti K. Isohanni
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Oulu, FIN-90014 Oulu, Finland,University of Oulu, Department of Public Health Science and General Practice, FIN-90014 Oulu, Finland
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24
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The efficacy of a voxel-based morphometry on the analysis of imaging in schizophrenia, temporal lobe epilepsy, and Alzheimer's disease/mild cognitive impairment: a review. Neuroradiology 2010; 52:711-21. [PMID: 20495793 DOI: 10.1007/s00234-010-0717-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/20/2010] [Accepted: 05/07/2010] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) done by means of MRI have provided new insights into the neuroanatomical basis for subjects with several conditions. Recently, VBM has been applied to investigate not only regional volumetric changes but also voxel-wise maps of fractional anisotropy (FA) computed from diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). The aim of this article is to review the recent work using VBM technique in particular focusing on schizophrenia, temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), and Alzheimer's disease (AD)/mild cognitive impairment (MCI). In patients with schizophrenia, VBM approach detects the structural brain abnormalities that appear normal on conventional MRI. Moreover, this technique also has the potential to emerge as a useful clinical tool for early detection and monitoring of disease progression and treatment response in patients with schizophrenia or AD/MCI. In TLE, VBM approach may help elucidate some unresolved important research questions such as how recurrent temporal lobe seizures affect hippocampal and extrahippocampal morphology. Thus, in the future, large cohort studies to monitor whole brain changes on a VBM basis will lead to a further understanding of the neuropathology of several conditions.
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25
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Ellison-Wright I, Bullmore E. Anatomy of bipolar disorder and schizophrenia: a meta-analysis. Schizophr Res 2010; 117:1-12. [PMID: 20071149 DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2009.12.022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 434] [Impact Index Per Article: 31.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2009] [Revised: 11/27/2009] [Accepted: 12/19/2009] [Indexed: 01/14/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Recent genetic results have indicated that the two major, classically distinct forms of psychosis - schizophrenia and bipolar disorder - may share causative factors in common. However it is not clear to what extent they may also have similar profiles of brain abnormality. We used meta-analytic techniques to generate and compare maps of brain structural abnormality in the large samples of patients with both disorders that have been studied using magnetic resonance imaging. METHOD A systematic search was conducted for voxel-based morphometry studies examining gray matter in patients with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. The anatomical distribution of the co-ordinates of gray matter differences was meta-analysed using Anatomical Likelihood Estimation. RESULTS Forty-two schizophrenia studies including 2058 patients with schizophrenia and 2131 comparison subjects were compared with fourteen bipolar studies including 366 patients with bipolar disorder and 497 comparison subjects. In schizophrenia, there were extensive gray matter deficits in frontal, temporal, cingulate and insular cortex and thalamus, and increased gray matter in the basal ganglia. In bipolar disorder, gray matter reductions were present in the anterior cingulate and bilateral insula. These substantially overlapped with areas of gray matter reduction in schizophrenia, except for a region of anterior cingulate where gray matter reduction was specific to bipolar disorder. IMPLICATIONS In bipolar disorder studies there were consistent regional gray matter reductions in paralimbic regions (anterior cingulate and insula) implicated in emotional processing. Gray matter reductions in schizophrenia studies were more extensive and involved limbic and neocortical structures as well as the paralimbic regions affected in bipolar disorder.
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26
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Fornito A, Yücel M, Dean B, Wood SJ, Pantelis C. Anatomical abnormalities of the anterior cingulate cortex in schizophrenia: bridging the gap between neuroimaging and neuropathology. Schizophr Bull 2009; 35:973-93. [PMID: 18436528 PMCID: PMC2728810 DOI: 10.1093/schbul/sbn025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 184] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is a functionally heterogeneous region involved in diverse cognitive and emotional processes that support goal-directed behaviour. Structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and neuropathological findings over the past two decades have converged to suggest abnormalities in the region may represent a neurobiological basis for many of the clinical manifestations of schizophrenia. However, while each approach offers complimentary information that can provide clues regarding underlying patholophysiological processes, the findings from these 2 fields are seldom integrated. In this article, we review structural neuroimaging and neuropathological studies of the ACC, focusing on the unique information they provide. The available imaging data suggest grey matter reductions in the ACC precede psychosis onset in some categories of high-risk individuals, show sub-regional specificity, and may progress with illness duration. The available post-mortem findings indicate these imaging-related changes are accompanied by reductions in neuronal, synaptic, and dendritic density, as well as increased afferent input, suggesting the grey matter differences observed with MRI arise from alterations in both neuronal and non-neuronal tissue compartments. We discuss the potential mechanisms that might facilitate integration of these findings and consider strategies for future research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alex Fornito
- Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
| | - Murat Yücel
- Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia,ORYGEN Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Brian Dean
- The Rebecca L Cooper Research Laboratories, The Mental Health Research Institute, Parkville, Victoria, Australia,Departments of Pathology and Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia,Department of Psychological Medicine, Monash University, Victoria, Australia
| | - Stephen J. Wood
- Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Christos Pantelis
- Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia,Howard Florey Institute, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
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27
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Fornito A, Yücel M, Patti J, Wood SJ, Pantelis C. Mapping grey matter reductions in schizophrenia: an anatomical likelihood estimation analysis of voxel-based morphometry studies. Schizophr Res 2009; 108:104-13. [PMID: 19157788 DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2008.12.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 265] [Impact Index Per Article: 17.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2008] [Revised: 11/28/2008] [Accepted: 12/06/2008] [Indexed: 01/27/2023]
Abstract
Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) is a popular tool for mapping neuroanatomical changes in schizophrenia patients. Several recent meta-analyses have identified the brain regions in which patients most consistently show grey matter reductions, although they have not examined whether such changes reflect differences in grey matter concentration (GMC) or grey matter volume (GMV). These measures assess different aspects of grey matter integrity, and may therefore reflect different pathological processes. In this study, we used the Anatomical Likelihood Estimation procedure to analyse significant differences reported in 37 VBM studies of schizophrenia patients, incorporating data from 1646 patients and 1690 controls, and compared the findings of studies using either GMC or GMV to index grey matter differences. Analysis of all studies combined indicated that grey matter reductions in a network of frontal, temporal, thalamic and striatal regions are among the most frequently reported in literature. GMC reductions were generally larger and more consistent than GMV reductions, and were more frequent in the insula, medial prefrontal, medial temporal and striatal regions. GMV reductions were more frequent in dorso-medial frontal cortex, and lateral and orbital frontal areas. These findings support the primacy of frontal, limbic, and subcortical dysfunction in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia, and suggest that the grey matter changes observed with MRI may not necessarily result from a unitary pathological process.
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Affiliation(s)
- A Fornito
- Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne and Melbourne Health, Victoria, Australia.
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28
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Meta-analysis of gray matter anomalies in schizophrenia: application of anatomic likelihood estimation and network analysis. Biol Psychiatry 2008; 64:774-81. [PMID: 18486104 PMCID: PMC5441233 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2008.03.031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 482] [Impact Index Per Article: 30.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2008] [Revised: 03/12/2008] [Accepted: 03/14/2008] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Although structural neuroimaging methods have been widely used to study brain morphology in schizophrenia, synthesizing this literature has been difficult. With the increasing popularity of voxel-based morphometric (VBM) methods in which group differences are reported in standardized coordinates, it is possible to apply powerful meta-analytic techniques initially designed for functional neuroimaging. In this study, we performed a voxelwise, coordinate-based meta-analysis to better conceptualize the neuroanatomic correlates of schizophrenia. METHODS Thirty-one peer-reviewed articles, with a total of 1195 patients with schizophrenia contrasted with 1262 healthy volunteers, were included in the meta-analysis. Coordinates from each article were used to create a statistical map that estimated the likelihood of between-group gray matter density differences at every brain voxel. These results were subsequently entered into a network analysis. RESULTS Patients had reduced gray matter density relative to control subjects in a distributed network of regions, including bilateral insular cortex, anterior cingulate, left parahippocampal gyrus, left middle frontal gyrus, postcentral gyrus, and thalamus. Network analysis grouped these regions into four distinct networks that potentially represent different pathologic processes. Patients had increased gray matter density in striatal regions. CONCLUSIONS This study expands on previous meta-analyses of the neuroanatomy of schizophrenia by elucidating a series of brain networks disrupted by the illness. Because it is possible that these networks are influenced by independent etiologic factors, this work should foster more detailed neural models of the illness and focus research designed to discover the mechanisms of gray matter reduction in schizophrenia.
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29
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van Os J, Rutten BPF, Poulton R. Gene-environment interactions in schizophrenia: review of epidemiological findings and future directions. Schizophr Bull 2008; 34:1066-82. [PMID: 18791076 PMCID: PMC2632485 DOI: 10.1093/schbul/sbn117] [Citation(s) in RCA: 408] [Impact Index Per Article: 25.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
Concern is building about high rates of schizophrenia in large cities, and among immigrants, cannabis users, and traumatized individuals, some of which likely reflects the causal influence of environmental exposures. This, in combination with very slow progress in the area of molecular genetics, has generated interest in more complicated models of schizophrenia etiology that explicitly posit gene-environment interactions (EU-GEI. European Network of Schizophrenia Networks for the Study of Gene Environment Interactions. Schizophrenia aetiology: do gene-environment interactions hold the key? [published online ahead of print April 25, 2008] Schizophr Res; S0920-9964(08) 00170-9). Although findings of epidemiological gene-environment interaction (G x E) studies are suggestive of widespread gene-environment interactions in the etiology of schizophrenia, numerous challenges remain. For example, attempts to identify gene-environment interactions cannot be equated with molecular genetic studies with a few putative environmental variables "thrown in": G x E is a multidisciplinary exercise involving epidemiology, psychology, psychiatry, neuroscience, neuroimaging, pharmacology, biostatistics, and genetics. Epidemiological G x E studies using indirect measures of genetic risk in genetically sensitive designs have the advantage that they are able to model the net, albeit nonspecific, genetic load. In studies using direct molecular measures of genetic variation, a hypothesis-driven approach postulating synergistic effects between genes and environment impacting on a final common pathway, such as "sensitization" of mesolimbic dopamine neurotransmission, while simplistic, may provide initial focus and protection against the numerous false-positive and false-negative results that these investigations engender. Experimental ecogenetic approaches with randomized assignment may help to overcome some of the limitations of observational studies and allow for the additional elucidation of underlying mechanisms using a combination of functional enviromics and functional genomics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jim van Os
- Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology, School of Mental Health and Neuroscience, Maastricht University Medical Centre, EURON, SEARCH, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
| | - Bart PF Rutten
- Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology, School of Mental Health and Neuroscience, Maastricht University Medical Centre, EURON, SEARCH, PO Box 616 (location DOT 10), Maastricht, 6200 MD, The Netherlands
| | - Richie Poulton
- Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Research Unit, Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, Dunedin School of Medicine, University of Otago, PO Box 913, Dunedin, New Zealand
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Williams LM. Voxel-based morphometry in schizophrenia: implications for neurodevelopmental connectivity models, cognition and affect. Expert Rev Neurother 2008; 8:1049-65. [PMID: 18590476 DOI: 10.1586/14737175.8.7.1049] [Citation(s) in RCA: 55] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) studies have provided valuable data on the nature and distribution of gray and white matter abnormalities in schizophrenia relative to the whole brain. Most VBM studies have focused on chronic patients, but there are accumulating studies of first-episode schizophrenia and other high-risk groups such as first-degree relatives. This review outlines the evidence from VBM studies of both chronic and first-episode/high-risk groups. The most consistent reduction revealed in chronic patients is in the superior temporal cortex, and in first-episode/high-risk individuals, in frontal brain regions. These findings are reviewed in relation to complementary evidence for neurodevelopmental deviation, and functional associations with both neuroimaging and behavioral measures of general and social cognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leanne M Williams
- Brain Dynamics Centre, Westmead Millennium Institute & Western Clinical School, University of Sydney, Westmead Hospital, NSW 2145, Australia.
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Ellison-Wright I, Glahn DC, Laird AR, Thelen SM, Bullmore E. The anatomy of first-episode and chronic schizophrenia: an anatomical likelihood estimation meta-analysis. Am J Psychiatry 2008; 165:1015-23. [PMID: 18381902 PMCID: PMC2873788 DOI: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2008.07101562] [Citation(s) in RCA: 463] [Impact Index Per Article: 28.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE The authors sought to map gray matter changes in first-episode schizophrenia and to compare these with the changes in chronic schizophrenia. They postulated that the data would show a progression of changes from hippocampal deficits in first-episode schizophrenia to include volume reductions in the amygdala and cortical gray matter in chronic schizophrenia. METHOD A systematic search was conducted for voxel-based structural MRI studies of patients with first-episode schizophrenia and chronic schizophrenia in relation to comparison groups. Meta-analyses of the coordinates of gray matter differences were carried out using anatomical likelihood estimation. Maps of gray matter changes were constructed, and subtraction meta-analysis was used to compare them. RESULTS A total of 27 articles were identified for inclusion in the meta-analyses. A marked correspondence was observed in regions affected by both first-episode schizophrenia and chronic schizophrenia, including gray matter decreases in the thalamus, the left uncus/amygdala region, the insula bilaterally, and the anterior cingulate. In the comparison of first-episode schizophrenia and chronic schizophrenia, decreases in gray matter volume were detected in first-episode schizophrenia but not in chronic schizophrenia in the caudate head bilaterally; decreases were more widespread in cortical regions in chronic schizophrenia. CONCLUSIONS Anatomical changes in first-episode schizophrenia broadly coincide with a basal ganglia-thalamocortical circuit. These changes include bilateral reductions in caudate head gray matter, which are absent in chronic schizophrenia. Comparing first-episode schizophrenia and chronic schizophrenia, the authors did not find evidence for the temporolimbic progression of pathology from hippocampus to amygdala, but there was evidence for progression of cortical changes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ian Ellison-Wright
- Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust, Beechlydene Ward, Fountain Way, Wilton Rd., Salisbury SP2 7EP, United Kingdom.
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Cooke MA, Fannon D, Kuipers E, Peters E, Williams SC, Kumari V. Neurological basis of poor insight in psychosis: a voxel-based MRI study. Schizophr Res 2008; 103:40-51. [PMID: 18539438 PMCID: PMC2845803 DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2008.04.022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 72] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2007] [Revised: 04/02/2008] [Accepted: 04/11/2008] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND As a reflection of poor insight, people with schizophrenia often disagree with carers and clinicians about whether (a) their experiences are abnormal, (b) they are mentally ill, and (c) they need treatment. METHODS This study used voxel-based morphometry to identify the associations between total and regional grey matter volumes and self-reported and observer-rated insight in 52 patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. Thirty healthy participants were also studied. RESULTS There were positive associations in patients between (i) the ability to recognise experiences as abnormal and the total and right superior temporal gyrus grey matter volumes, (ii), awareness of problems ('something wrong') and the left precuneus grey matter volume and (iii) awareness of symptoms and attributing them to illness and grey matter volumes in the left superior-middle temporal gyrus and the right inferior temporal and lateral parietal gyri. The 'recognition of the need for medication' dimension did not correlate with total or any regional grey matter volumes. Relative to controls, patients had less total and regional grey matter volumes in the thalamus and middle occipital and superior temporal gyri. CONCLUSIONS Lower grey matter volumes in the temporal and parietal regions that have been implicated in self-monitoring, working memory and access to internal mental states are associated with poor insight on certain dimensions in psychosis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael A. Cooke
- Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Dominic Fannon
- Division of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Elizabeth Kuipers
- Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, London, UK,NIHR Biomedical Research Centre for Mental Health, South London and Maudsley Foundation NHS Trust, London, United Kingdom
| | - Emmanuelle Peters
- Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, London, UK,NIHR Biomedical Research Centre for Mental Health, South London and Maudsley Foundation NHS Trust, London, United Kingdom
| | - Steven C. Williams
- Centre for Neuroimaging Sciences, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Veena Kumari
- Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, London, UK,Corresponding author. Department of Psychology (PO78), Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF, UK. Tel.: +44 207 848 0233; fax: +44 207 848 0860.
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Prasad KM, Keshavan MS. Structural cerebral variations as useful endophenotypes in schizophrenia: do they help construct "extended endophenotypes"? Schizophr Bull 2008; 34:774-90. [PMID: 18408230 PMCID: PMC2632444 DOI: 10.1093/schbul/sbn017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 76] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Endophenotypes represent intermediate phenotypes on the putative causal pathway from the genotype to the phenotype. They offer a potentially valuable strategy to examine the molecular etiopathology of complex behavioral phenotypes such as schizophrenia. Neurocognitive and neurophysiological impairments that suggest functional impairments associated with schizophrenia have been proposed as endophenotypes. However, few studies have examined the structural variations in the brain that might underlie the functional impairments as useful endophenotypes for schizophrenia. Over the past three decades, there has been an impressive body of literature supporting brain structural alterations in schizophrenia. We critically reviewed the extant literature on the neuroanatomical variations in schizophrenia in this paper to evaluate their candidacy as endophenotypes and how useful they are in furthering the understanding of etiology and pathophysiology of schizophrenia. Brain morphometric measures meet many of the criteria set by different investigators, such as being robustly associated with schizophrenia, heritable, quantifiable, and present in unaffected family members more frequently than in the general population. We conclude that the brain morphometric alterations appear largely to meet the criteria for endophenotypes in psychotic disorders. Some caveats for the utility of endophenotypes are discussed. A proposal to combine more than one endophenotype ("extended endophenotype") is suggested. Further work is needed to examine how specific genes and their interactions with the environment may produce alterations in brain structure and function that accompany psychotic disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Konasale M. Prasad
- Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA 15213
| | - Matcheri S. Keshavan
- Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA 15213
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI 48201
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Honea RA, Meyer-Lindenberg A, Hobbs KB, Pezawas L, Mattay VS, Egan MF, Verchinski B, Passingham RE, Weinberger DR, Callicott JH. Is gray matter volume an intermediate phenotype for schizophrenia? A voxel-based morphometry study of patients with schizophrenia and their healthy siblings. Biol Psychiatry 2008; 63:465-74. [PMID: 17689500 PMCID: PMC2390785 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2007.05.027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 153] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/06/2007] [Revised: 04/30/2007] [Accepted: 05/22/2007] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Shared neuropathological characteristics of patients with schizophrenia and their siblings might represent intermediate phenotypes that could be used to investigate genetic susceptibility to the illness. We sought to discover previously unidentified gray matter volume differences in patients with schizophrenia and their siblings with optimized voxel-based morphometry. METHODS We studied 169 patients with schizophrenia, 213 of their unaffected siblings, and 212 healthy volunteers from the Clinical Brain Disorders Branch/National Institute of Mental Health Genetic Study of Schizophrenia with magnetic resonance imaging. RESULTS Patients with schizophrenia had significant regional gray matter decreases in the frontal, temporal, and parietal cortices compared with healthy volunteers. Their unaffected siblings tended to share gray matter decreases in the medial frontal, superior temporal, and insular cortices, but these decreases were not significant after correction for multiple comparisons, even when we looked at a subgroup of siblings with a past history of mood disorder. As an exploratory analysis, we estimated heritability with regions of interest from the VBM analysis as well as from the hippocampus. Hippocampal volume was significantly correlated within sibling-pairs. CONCLUSIONS Our findings confirm and extend previous voxel-based morphometry analyses in ill subjects with schizophrenia. Furthermore, these data argue that although siblings might share some regional gray matter decreases with their affected siblings, the pattern of regional differences might be a weak intermediate phenotype for schizophrenia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robyn A Honea
- Genes, Cognition and Psychosis Program, National Institute of Mental Health, Division of Intramural Research, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, Maryland 20892-1364, USA
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Rapoport JL, Gogtay N. Brain neuroplasticity in healthy, hyperactive and psychotic children: insights from neuroimaging. Neuropsychopharmacology 2008; 33:181-97. [PMID: 17851542 DOI: 10.1038/sj.npp.1301553] [Citation(s) in RCA: 99] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/15/2023]
Abstract
Noninvasive brain imaging permits longitudinal studies of anatomic brain development in healthy and psychiatrically ill children. The time course for gray matter maturation varies by region and parallels earlier histological studies, indicating dynamic patterns of overproduction and regression. Developmental trajectories vary in relation to gender, intelligence, and overall functioning. Twin studies show high heritability for brain volumes, which varies with region and with age. Diagnostically specific, illness-related changes as well as outcome-associated plastic response are observed as illustrated for two pediatric populations, childhood-onset schizophrenia and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, conditions which may be, in part, disorders of brain plasticity.
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Ho BC. MRI brain volume abnormalities in young, nonpsychotic relatives of schizophrenia probands are associated with subsequent prodromal symptoms. Schizophr Res 2007; 96:1-13. [PMID: 17761401 PMCID: PMC2222920 DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2007.08.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/11/2007] [Revised: 07/25/2007] [Accepted: 08/01/2007] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Schizophrenia is characterized by subtle but well-replicated total and regional (frontal and temporal) brain tissue volume deficits. Studies of individuals at-risk for developing schizophrenia suggest that the onset of brain volume decrement may closely pre-date overt manifestations of schizophrenia, making brain volume abnormalities potential predictors for early identification. In an ongoing longitudinal morphometric MRI study of young, nonpsychotic first- or second-degree relatives of schizophrenia probands, we compared brain volumes in 46 relatives who are still within age range for developing schizophrenia against comparison groups of 46 schizophrenia patients and 46 healthy volunteers without family history of schizophrenia. Relatives had similar brain volume abnormalities as schizophrenia patients albeit less severe. Relatives had significantly larger whole brain, frontal, temporal and parietal gray matter (GM) volumes than patients. Relatives also had significantly smaller frontal GM volumes than healthy volunteers. Both relatives and patients had significantly larger whole brain WM (specifically parietal WM) volumes compared to healthy volunteers. Abnormally greater WM volumes in relatives and patients are suggestive of genetically-mediated dysmaturation of the age-expected myelination during adolescence through mid adulthood. On prodromal symptoms assessed in relatives one year after MRI brain scans, initial GM deficits as well as larger WM volumes correlated significantly with greater severity of subsequent prodromal symptoms. Together with previous genetic high-risk studies of adolescent or young adult relatives, these findings indicate that premorbid MRI brain abnormalities may be of predictive value for the early identification of schizophrenia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Beng-Choon Ho
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City, Iowa 52242, USA.
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Menzies L, Achard S, Chamberlain SR, Fineberg N, Chen CH, del Campo N, Sahakian BJ, Robbins TW, Bullmore E. Neurocognitive endophenotypes of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Brain 2007; 130:3223-36. [PMID: 17855376 DOI: 10.1093/brain/awm205] [Citation(s) in RCA: 330] [Impact Index Per Article: 19.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Endophenotypes (intermediate phenotypes) are objective, heritable, quantitative traits hypothesized to represent genetic risk for polygenic disorders at more biologically tractable levels than distal behavioural and clinical phenotypes. It is theorized that endophenotype models of disease will help to clarify both diagnostic classification and aetiological understanding of complex brain disorders such as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). To investigate endophenotypes in OCD, we measured brain structure using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and behavioural performance on a response inhibition task (Stop-Signal) in 31 OCD patients, 31 of their unaffected first-degree relatives, and 31 unrelated matched controls. Both patients and relatives had delayed response inhibition on the Stop-Signal task compared with healthy controls. We used a multivoxel analysis method (partial least squares) to identify large-scale brain systems in which anatomical variation was associated with variation in performance on the response inhibition task. Behavioural impairment on the Stop-Signal task, occurring predominantly in patients and relatives, was significantly associated with reduced grey matter in orbitofrontal and right inferior frontal regions and increased grey matter in cingulate, parietal and striatal regions. A novel permutation test indicated significant familial effects on variation of the MRI markers of inhibitory processing, supporting the candidacy of these brain structural systems as endophenotypes of OCD. In summary, structural variation in large-scale brain systems related to motor inhibitory control may mediate genetic risk for OCD, representing the first evidence for a neurocognitive endophenotype of OCD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lara Menzies
- Brain Mapping Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
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Mitelman SA, Brickman AM, Shihabuddin L, Newmark RE, Hazlett EA, Haznedar MM, Buchsbaum MS. A comprehensive assessment of gray and white matter volumes and their relationship to outcome and severity in schizophrenia. Neuroimage 2007; 37:449-62. [PMID: 17587598 PMCID: PMC1994089 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2007.04.070] [Citation(s) in RCA: 68] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2006] [Revised: 04/17/2007] [Accepted: 04/30/2007] [Indexed: 10/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Preliminary data suggest an association of posterior cortical gray matter reduction with poor outcome in schizophrenia. We made a systematic MRI assessment of regional gray and white matter volumes, parcellated into 40 Brodmann's areas, in 104 patients with schizophrenia (51 with good outcomes, 53 with poor outcomes) and 41 normal comparison subjects, and investigated correlations of regional morphometry with outcome and severity of the illness. Schizophrenia patients displayed differential reductions in frontal and to a lesser degree temporal gray matter volumes in both hemispheres, most pronounced in the frontal pole and lateral temporal cortex. White matter volumes in schizophrenia patients were bilaterally increased, primarily in the frontal, parietal, and isolated temporal regions, with volume reductions confined to anterior cingulate gyrus. In patients with schizophrenia as a group, higher illness severity was associated with reduced temporal gray matter volumes and expanded frontal white matter volumes in both hemispheres. In comparison to good-outcome group, patients with poor outcomes had lower temporal, occipital, and to a lesser degree parietal gray matter volumes in both hemispheres and temporal, parietal, occipital, and posterior cingulate white matter volumes in the right hemisphere. While gray matter deficits in the granular cortex were observed in all schizophrenia patients, agranular cortical deficits in the left hemisphere were peculiar to patients with poor outcomes. These results provide support for frontotemporal gray matter reduction and frontoparietal white matter expansion in schizophrenia. Poor outcome is associated with more posterior distribution (posteriorization) of both gray and white matter changes, and with preferential impairment in the unimodal visual and paralimbic cortical regions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Serge A Mitelman
- Department of Psychiatry, Neuroscience Positron Emission Tomography Laboratory, Box 1505, Mount Sinai Medical Center, One Gustave L. Levy Place, New York, NY 10029, USA.
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Abstract
The idea that some phenotypes bear a closer relationship to the biological processes that give rise to psychiatric illness than diagnostic categories has attracted considerable interest. Much effort has been devoted to finding such endophenotypes, partly because it is believed that the genetic basis of endophenotypes will be easier to analyse than that of psychiatric disease. This belief depends in part on the assumption that the effect sizes of genetic loci contributing to endophenotypes are larger than those contributing to disease susceptibility, hence increasing the chance that genetic linkage and association tests will detect them. We examine this assumption by applying meta-analytical techniques to genetic association studies of endophenotypes. We find that the genetic effect sizes of the loci examined to date are no larger than those reported for other phenotypes. A review of the genetic architecture of traits in model organisms also provides no support for the view that the effect sizes of loci contributing to phenotypes closer to the biological basis of disease is any larger than those contributing to disease itself. While endophenotype measures may afford greater reliability, it should not be assumed that they will also demonstrate simpler genetic architecture.
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Affiliation(s)
- JONATHAN FLINT
- Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, University of
Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - MARCUS R. MUNAFÒ
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of
Bristol, Bristol, UK
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Buchsbaum MS, Friedman J, Buchsbaum BR, Chu KW, Hazlett EA, Newmark R, Schneiderman JS, Torosjan Y, Tang C, Hof PR, Stewart D, Davis KL, Gorman J. Diffusion tensor imaging in schizophrenia. Biol Psychiatry 2006; 60:1181-7. [PMID: 16893533 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2005.11.028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 105] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2005] [Revised: 11/09/2005] [Accepted: 11/15/2005] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Alignment of white matter axons as inferred from diffusion tensor imaging has indicated changes in schizophrenia in frontal and frontotemporal white matter. METHODS Diffusion tensor anisotropy and anatomical magnetic resonance images were acquired in 64 patients with schizophrenia and 55 normal volunteers. Anatomical images were acquired with a magnetization prepared rapid gradient echo sequence, and diffusion tensor images used a pulsed gradient spin-echo acquisition. Images were aligned and warped to a standard brain, and anisotropy in normal volunteers and patients was compared using significance probability mapping. RESULTS Patients showed widespread areas of reduced anisotropy, including the frontal white matter, the corpus callosum, and the frontal longitudinal fasciculus. CONCLUSIONS These findings, which are consistent with earlier reports of frontal decreases in anisotropy, demonstrate that the effects are most prominent in frontal and callosal areas and are particularly widespread in frontal white matter regions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Monte S Buchsbaum
- Neuroscience Positron Emission Tomography Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, New York 10029, USA.
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Brunet-Gouet E, Decety J. Social brain dysfunctions in schizophrenia: a review of neuroimaging studies. Psychiatry Res 2006; 148:75-92. [PMID: 17088049 DOI: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2006.05.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 228] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2006] [Revised: 04/25/2006] [Accepted: 05/10/2006] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Several studies have indicated that schizophrenic patients show impaired performance in various aspects of social cognition, including theory of mind, emotion processing, and agency judgments. Neuroimaging studies that have compared patients and healthy subjects during such mental activity indicate an abnormal hemodynamic response in the medial prefrontal cortex, the prefrontal cortex, the amygdala, the inferior parietal lobe, i.e., a set of regions known to be critically involved in social cognition. This paper addresses a number of issues raised by schizophrenia research into theory of mind, emotion perception and self-agency with regards to the neural systems that mediate social cognition. In healthy subjects, typical brain patterns are associated with theory of mind, emotion perception and self-agency; some activated clusters overlap, while others are distinct. For instance, activations in the paracingulate gyrus are almost systematically associated with theory of mind tasks, while the amygdala is mainly involved in emotion perception tasks. Additional foci are frequently found activated during those tasks: superior temporal sulcus, inferior frontal area. Moreover, the inferior parietal lobe is thought to contribute to agency judgments. In the light of the data on brain abnormalities and neurochemical dysfunctions in schizophrenia, we discuss the interaction of social cognitive dysfunction with the supposed information processing abnormalities caused by dopamine dysregulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eric Brunet-Gouet
- Service de Psychiatrie Adulte, Inserm ERI 0015, Hôpital de Versailles, 177 route de Versailles, 78150 Le Chesnay, France.
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Mitelman SA, Newmark RE, Torosjan Y, Chu KW, Brickman AM, Haznedar MM, Hazlett EA, Tang CY, Shihabuddin L, Buchsbaum MS. White matter fractional anisotropy and outcome in schizophrenia. Schizophr Res 2006; 87:138-59. [PMID: 16854563 DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2006.06.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 68] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2006] [Revised: 06/03/2006] [Accepted: 06/07/2006] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Disparate white matter fractional anisotropy (FA) findings have been reported in patients with schizophrenia in recent years. This may in part reflect heterogeneity of subjects in the studies, including differences in outcome and severity of the illness. We examined whether there is a relationship between white matter FA and outcome in patients with schizophrenia. METHOD Diffusion-tensor images were obtained in 41 normal subjects and 104 patients with schizophrenia, divided into good-outcome (n=51) and poor-outcome (Kraepelinian; n=53) subtypes based on their ability for self-care. White matter FA and its relationship to regional tissue volumes were evaluated across 40 individual Brodmann's areas using a semi-automated parcellation technique. RESULTS Overall white matter FA was lower in schizophrenia patients than normal subjects, with regional reductions in widespread temporoparietal and selected prefrontal white matter regions. In schizophrenia patients, lower regional white matter FA was associated with lower regional gray matter volumes. In comparison to normal subjects, overall white matter FA was reduced in patients with poor outcomes in both hemispheres, but to a lesser extent and only in the right hemisphere in good-outcome patients. Lower regional FA was associated with larger regional white matter volumes in good-outcome group. CONCLUSIONS Global FA reductions implicate white matter as tissue type in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. In contrast to poor outcome, good outcome in schizophrenia patients may be associated with less extensive FA reductions, higher FA in regional frontal and cingulate white matter, and correlated increases in regional white matter volumes, particularly in the left hemisphere.
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Affiliation(s)
- Serge A Mitelman
- Department of Psychiatry, Neuroscience-PET Laboratory, Box 1505, Mount Sinai Medical Center, One Gustave L. Levy Place, New York, NY 10029, USA.
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Lauriat TL, Dracheva S, Kremerskothen J, Duning K, Haroutunian V, Buxbaum JD, Hyde TM, Kleinman JE, McInnes LA. Characterization of KIAA0513, a novel signaling molecule that interacts with modulators of neuroplasticity, apoptosis, and the cytoskeleton. Brain Res 2006; 1121:1-11. [PMID: 17010949 DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2006.08.099] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2006] [Revised: 08/23/2006] [Accepted: 08/24/2006] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
KIAA0513 was previously identified as upregulated in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex of subjects with schizophrenia by microarray analysis. In the present study, the differential expression in the schizophrenic subjects was confirmed by quantitative RT-PCR. The limited homology to proteins of known function and lack of functional domains in the encoded protein have made it difficult to predict a function for KIAA0513. We used in situ hybridization, RNA blots, western blots, and immunocytochemistry to examine KIAA0513 expression in normal brain and peripheral tissues. The gene is ubiquitously expressed but is enriched in the brain, particularly in the cerebellum. Finally, interacting proteins were identified using a yeast two-hybrid screen to functionally characterize the protein. KIAA0513 interacts with KIBRA, HAX-1, and INTS4, which also interact with proteins involved in neuroplasticity, apoptosis, and cytoskeletal regulation. Therefore, KIAA0513 is likely to be involved in signaling pathways related to these processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tara L Lauriat
- Department of Psychiatry, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY 10029, USA
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Marcelis M, Suckling J, Hofman P, Woodruff P, Bullmore E, van Os J. Evidence that brain tissue volumes are associated with HVA reactivity to metabolic stress in schizophrenia. Schizophr Res 2006; 86:45-53. [PMID: 16806836 DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2006.05.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2005] [Revised: 05/01/2006] [Accepted: 05/02/2006] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Although liability to psychosis is thought to have its origins in cerebral alterations, expressed as cerebral grey and white matter loss, less is known about the degree to which such vulnerabilities impact on functional parameters, in particular altered stress reactivity. Breier et al. [Breier, A., Davis, O.R., Buchanan, R.W., Moricle, L.A., Munson, R.C., 1993b. Effects of metabolic perturbation on plasma homovanillic acid in schizophrenia. Relationship to prefrontal cortex volume. Arch. Gen. Psychiatry 50(7), 541-550] reported that lower prefrontal cortex volume was associated with altered metabolic stress response, but this finding has never been replicated. METHODS Thirty-one patients with psychosis underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging scanning and a metabolic stress paradigm (glucoprivic 2-deoxyglucose (2DG) condition versus placebo condition) that yielded information on plasma homovanillic acid (HVA) reactivity. Total cerebral tissue volumes were derived from automated segmentation procedures. Associations between metabolic stress and tissue volumes (as well as their interactions) on the one hand, and plasma HVA level on the other, were investigated using multilevel random regression techniques. RESULTS Analysis revealed a significant increase in plasma HVA over time in the 2DG condition. The increase in HVA in the stress condition was stronger in patients with lower grey and white matter volumes. There was no significant interaction between metabolic stress and CSF volume. CONCLUSION Lower grey and white matter volumes in schizophrenia are associated with a dysregulated dopaminergic/noradrenergic mediated stress response. These findings may support the hypothesis that alterations in cortico-subcortical connections affect psychosis susceptibility through an altered stress response.
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Affiliation(s)
- Machteld Marcelis
- Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology, South Limburg Mental Health Research and Teaching Network, EURON, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
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Abstract
Phenotypic variability and likely extensive genetic heterogeneity have been confounding the search for the causes of schizophrenia since the inception of the diagnostic category. The inconsistent results of genetic linkage and association studies using the diagnostic category as the sole schizophrenia phenotype suggest that the current broad concept of schizophrenia does not demarcate a homogeneous disease entity. Approaches involving subtyping and stratification by covariates to reduce heterogeneity have been successful in the genetic study of other complex disorders, but rarely applied in schizophrenia research. This article reviews past and present attempts at delineating schizophrenia subtypes based on clinical features, statistically derived measures, putative genetic indicators, and intermediate phenotypes, highlighting the potential utility of multidomain neurocognitive endophenotypes.
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Affiliation(s)
- A Jablensky
- Centre for Clinical Research in Neuropsychiatry, School of Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia.
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van Rijn S, Aleman A, Swaab H, Kahn RS. Neurobiology of emotion and high risk for schizophrenia: role of the amygdala and the X-chromosome. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2005; 29:385-97. [PMID: 15820545 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2004.11.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2004] [Revised: 10/28/2004] [Accepted: 11/12/2004] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Abnormalities in emotion processing and in structure of the amygdala have consistently been documented in schizophrenia. A major question is whether amygdala abnormalities reflect a genetic vulnerability for the disease. In the present paper, we reviewed Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) studies that reported amygdala measures in several high-risk populations: subjects from the general population with subclinical schizophrenia symptoms and relatives of schizophrenia patients. In addition, we reviewed the evidence regarding Klinefelter syndrome (characterised by an additional X-chromosome), which has also been related to an increased risk for schizophrenia. Overall, the evidence points to structural abnormalities of the amygdala in individuals at increased risk for schizophrenia. Although the genetic basis of amygdala deficits remains unclear, abnormalities (of genes) on the X-chromosome might play a role as suggested by the evidence from individuals with sex chromosome aneuploidies. We propose that amygdala abnormalities are an endophenotype in schizophrenia and may account for subtle emotional processing deficits that have been described in these high-risk groups.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sophie van Rijn
- Department of Psychiatry, Rudolf Magnus Institute for Neuroscience, University Medical Center Utrecht, Heidelberglaan 100, 3508 GA Utrecht, The Netherlands.
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Gourion D, Leroy S, Bourdel MC, Goldberger C, Poirier MF, Olié JP, Krebs MO. Cerebellum development and schizophrenia: an association study of the human homeogene Engrailed 2. Psychiatry Res 2004; 126:93-8. [PMID: 15123388 DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2004.02.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2003] [Revised: 01/15/2004] [Accepted: 02/19/2004] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
Epidemiological data and family studies in schizophrenia show that genetic factors contribute to the vulnerability to this disorder. The homeogene Engrailed 2 (EN2) is specifically involved in patterning the region that gives rise to the cerebellum and controls the plasticity of midbrain dopaminergic neurons. We carried out an association study for a CA repeat polymorphism located in the 3' region of the homeogene EN2. The subjects consisted of 165 patients with schizophrenia and 97 controls matched for age and ethnicity from a French Caucasian population. We found no significant association of schizophrenia with this bi-nucleotide repeat polymorphism of the EN2 gene.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Gourion
- INSERM E117, SHU Sainte-Anne, 7 rue Cabanis, Paris, France.
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