Regional Gray Matter Volume Abnormalities in the At Risk Mental State

Background: Recent studies have demonstrated brain structural changes that predate or accompany the onset of frank psychosis, such as schizophrenia, among individuals with an at-risk mental state (ARMS). The planum temporale (PT) is a brain region involved in language processing. In schizophrenia patients, gray matter volume reduction and lack of normal asymmetry (left > right) of PT have repeatedly been reported. Some studies showed progressive gray matter reduction of PT in first-episode schizophrenia patients, and in ARMS subjects during their development of psychosis.Methods: MRI scans (1.5 T field strength) were obtained from 73 ARMS subjects and 74 gender- and age-matched healthy controls at three sites (University of Toyama, Toho University and Tohoku University). Participants with ARMS were clinically monitored for at least 2 years to confirm whether they subsequently developed frank psychosis. Cortical thickness, gray matter volume, and surface area of PT were estimated using FreeSurfer-initiated labeled cortical distance mapping (FSLCDM). PT measures were compared among healthy controls, ARMS subjects who later developed overt psychosis (ARMS-P), and those who did not (ARMS-NP). In each statistical model, age, sex, intracranial volume, and scanning sites were treated as nuisance covariates.Results: Of 73 ARMS subjects, 18 developed overt psychosis (12 schizophrenia and 6 other psychoses) within the follow-up period. There were no significant group differences of PT measures. In addition, significant asymmetries of PT volume and surface area (left > right) were found in all diagnostic groups. PT measures did not correlate with the neurocognitive performance of ARMS subjects.Discussion: Our results suggest that the previously-reported gray matter reduction and lack of normal anatomical asymmetry of PT in schizophrenia patients may not emerge during the prodromal stage of psychosis; taken together with previous longitudinal findings, such PT structural changes may occur just before or during the onset of psychosis.

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REGION-SPECIFIC ATROPHY AS MEASURED BY CORTICAL GRAY MATTER VOLUME IS ASSOCIATED WITH BOTH REGIONAL AND TOTAL CORTICAL AMYLOID-BETA BURDEN IN COGNITIVELY NORMAL INDIVIDUALS AT RISK FOR ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE

American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry ◽

10.1016/j.jagp.2019.01.100 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 27 (3) ◽

pp. S186-S187

Author(s):

Ryan O'Dell ◽

Manan Gupta ◽

Joel Gelernter ◽

Richard Carson ◽

Christopher van Dyck ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Alzheimer’S Disease ◽

Alzheimer's Disease ◽

At Risk ◽

Amyloid Beta ◽

Gray Matter ◽

Gray Matter Volume ◽

Cognitively Normal ◽

Matter Volume ◽

Normal Individuals ◽

Cortical Gray Matter

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Neuroanatomical correlates of different vulnerability states for psychosis and their clinical outcomes

The British Journal of Psychiatry ◽

10.1192/bjp.bp.108.052068 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 195 (3) ◽

pp. 218-226 ◽

Cited By ~ 60

Author(s):

Nikolaos Koutsouleris ◽

Gisela J. E. Schmitt ◽

Christian Gaser ◽

Ronald Bottlender ◽

Johanna Scheuerecker ◽

...

Keyword(s):

At Risk ◽

Clinical Outcome ◽

Mental State ◽

Grey Matter ◽

Mental States ◽

Grey Matter Volume ◽

Healthy Controls ◽

Imaging Data ◽

Matter Volume ◽

At Risk Mental State

BackgroundStructural brain abnormalities have been described in individuals with an at-risk mental state for psychosis. However, the neuroanatomical underpinnings of the early and late at-risk mental state relative to clinical outcome remain unclear.AimsTo investigate grey matter volume abnormalities in participants in a putatively early or late at-risk mental state relative to their prospective clinical outcome.MethodVoxel-based morphometry of magnetic resonance imaging data from 20 people with a putatively early at-risk mental state (ARMS–E group) and 26 people with a late at-risk mental state (ARMS–L group) as well as from 15 participants with at-risk mental states with subsequent disease transition (ARMS–T group) and 18 participants without subsequent disease transition (ARMS–NT group) were compared with 75 healthy volunteers.ResultsCompared with healthy controls, ARMS–L participants had grey matter volume losses in frontotemporolimbic structures. Participants in the ARMS–E group showed bilateral temporolimbic alterations and subtle prefrontal abnormalities. Participants in the ARMS–T group had prefrontal alterations relative to those in the ARMS–NT group and in the healthy controls that overlapped with the findings in the ARMS–L group.ConclusionsBrain alterations associated with the early at-risk mental state may relate to an elevated susceptibility to psychosis, whereas alterations underlying the late at-risk mental state may indicate a subsequent transition to psychosis.

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Structural brain abnormalities in individuals with an at-risk mental state who later develop psychosis

The British Journal of Psychiatry ◽

10.1192/bjp.191.51.s69 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 191 (S51) ◽

pp. s69-s75 ◽

Cited By ~ 95

Author(s):

Stefan J. Borgwardt ◽

Philip K. McGuire ◽

Jacqueline Aston ◽

Gregor Berger ◽

Paola Dazzan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

At Risk ◽

Healthy Volunteers ◽

Mental State ◽

Grey Matter ◽

First Episode ◽

Grey Matter Volume ◽

Psychotic Illness ◽

Matter Volume ◽

Structural Brain ◽

At Risk Mental State

BackgroundNeuroanatomical abnormalities are a well-established feature of schizophrenia. However, the timing of their emergence and the extent to which they are related to vulnerability to the disorder as opposed to psychotic illness itself is unclearAimsTo assess regional grey matter volume in the at-risk individuals who subsequently developed psychosisMethodMagnetic resonance imaging data from at-risk individuals who developed psychosis (n = 12) within the following 25 months were compared with data from healthy volunteers (n=22) and people with first-episode psychosis (n=25)ResultsCompared with healthy volunteers, individuals who subsequently developed psychosis had smaller grey matter volume in the posterior cingulate gyrus, precuneus, and paracentral lobule bilaterally and in the left superior parietal lobule, and greater grey matter volume in a left parietal/posterior temporal region. Compared with first-episode patients, they had relatively greater grey matter volume in the temporal gyrus bilaterally and smaller grey matter volume in the right lentiform nucleusConclusionsSome of the structural brain abnormalities in individuals with an at-risk mental state may be related to an increased vulnerability to psychosis, while others are associated with the development of a psychotic illness

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Regional patterns of gray matter volume, hypometabolism, and beta-amyloid in groups at risk of Alzheimer's disease

Neurobiology of Aging ◽

10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2017.10.023 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 63 ◽

pp. 140-151 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Miranka Wirth ◽

Alexandre Bejanin ◽

Renaud La Joie ◽

Eider M. Arenaza-Urquijo ◽

Julie Gonneaud ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Alzheimer’S Disease ◽

Alzheimer's Disease ◽

At Risk ◽

Gray Matter ◽

Gray Matter Volume ◽

Beta Amyloid ◽

Regional Patterns ◽

Matter Volume

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Impact on the Onset of Psychosis of a Polygenic Schizophrenia-Related Risk Score and Changes in White Matter Volume

Cellular Physiology and Biochemistry ◽

10.1159/000491986 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 48 (3) ◽

pp. 1201-1214 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Fabienne Harrisberger ◽

Renata Smieskova ◽

Tobias Egli ◽

Andor E. Simon ◽

Anita Riecher-Rössler ◽

...

Keyword(s):

At Risk ◽

White Matter ◽

Mental State ◽

First Episode Psychosis ◽

First Episode ◽

White Matter Volume ◽

Matter Volume ◽

Related Risk ◽

Episode Psychosis ◽

At Risk Mental State

Background: Reductions in the volume of brain white matter are a common feature in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder while the association between white matter and polygenic schizophrenia-related risk is unclear. To look at the intermediate state between health and the full-blown disorder, we investigated this aspect in groups of patients before and after the onset of psychosis. Methods: On a 3 Tesla scanner, total and regional white matter volumes were investigated by structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the following groups: 37 at-risk mental state patients (ARMS), including 30 with no transition to psychosis (ARMS-NT) and 7 with a transition to psychosis (ARMS-T) pooled with 25 first episode psychosis (FEP) patients. These T1-weighted images were automatically processed with the FreeSurfer software and compared with an odds-ratio-weighted polygenic schizophrenia-related risk score (PSRS) based on the publicly available top white matter single-nucleotide polymorphisms. Results: We found no association, only a trend, between PSRS and white matter volume over all groups (β = 0.24, p = 0.07, 95% confidence interval = [-0.02 – 0.49]). However, a higher PSRS was significantly associated with a higher probability of being assigned to the ARMS-T + FEP group rather than to the ARMS-NT group (β = 0.70, p = 0.02, 95% confidence interval = [0.14 – 1.33]); there was no such association with white matter volume. Additionally, a positive association was found between PSRS and the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) total score for the pooled ARMS-NT/ARMS-T+FEP sample and for the ARMS-T + FEP group also, but none for the ARMS-NT group only. Conclusion: These findings suggest that at-risk mental state patients with a transition and first-episode psychosis patients have a higher genetic risk for schizophrenia than at-risk mental state patients with no transition to psychosis; this risk was associated with psychopathological symptoms. Further analyses may allow polygenic schizophrenia-related risk scores to be used as biomarkers to predict psychosis.

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