scholarly journals A Meta-analysis of Structural and Functional Brain Abnormalities in Early-Onset Schizophrenia

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vasileios Ioakeimidis ◽  
Corinna Haenschel ◽  
Kielan Yarrow ◽  
Marinos Kyriakopoulos ◽  
Danai Dima
Keyword(s):  
Functional Mri ◽  
Early Onset ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Gray Matter Volume ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Salience Network ◽  
Early Onset Schizophrenia ◽  
Mri Findings ◽  
Temporoparietal Junction ◽  
The Right

Abstract Early-onset schizophrenia (EOS) patients demonstrate brain changes that are similar to severe cases of adult-onset schizophrenia. Neuroimaging research in EOS is limited due to the rarity of the disorder. The present meta-analysis aims to consolidate MRI and functional MRI findings in EOS. Seven voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and 8 functional MRI studies met the inclusion criteria, reporting whole-brain analyses of EOS vs healthy controls. Activation likelihood estimation (ALE) was conducted to identify aberrant anatomical or functional clusters across the included studies. Separate ALE analyses were performed, first for all task-dependent studies (Cognition ALE) and then only for working memory ones (WM ALE). The VBM ALE revealed no significant clusters for gray matter volume reductions in EOS. Significant hypoactivations peaking in the right anterior cingulate cortex (rACC) and the right temporoparietal junction (rTPJ) were detected in the Cognition ALE. In the WM ALE, consistent hypoactivations were found in the left precuneus (lPreC), the right inferior parietal lobule (rIPL) and the rTPJ. These hypoactivated areas show strong associations with language, memory, attention, spatial, and social cognition. The functional co-activated networks of each suprathreshold ALE cluster, identified using the BrainMap database, revealed a core co-activation network with similar topography to the salience network. Our results add support to posterior parietal, ACC and rTPJ dysfunction in EOS, areas implicated in the cognitive impairments characterizing EOS. The salience network lies at the core of these cognitive processes, co-activating with the hypoactivating regions, and thus highlighting the importance of salience dysfunction in EOS.

scholarly journals Genetic factors influencing a neurobiological substrate for psychiatric disorders

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Till F. M. Andlauer ◽  
Thomas W. Mühleisen ◽  
Felix Hoffstaedter ◽  
Alexander Teumer ◽  
Katharina Wittfeld ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
Genetic Risk ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Psychiatric Disease ◽  
Salience Network ◽  
Genome Wide Association Studies ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
Common Substrate ◽  
The Common

AbstractA retrospective meta-analysis of magnetic resonance imaging voxel-based morphometry studies proposed that reduced gray matter volumes in the dorsal anterior cingulate and the left and right anterior insular cortex—areas that constitute hub nodes of the salience network—represent a common substrate for major psychiatric disorders. Here, we investigated the hypothesis that the common substrate serves as an intermediate phenotype to detect genetic risk variants relevant for psychiatric disease. To this end, after a data reduction step, we conducted genome-wide association studies of a combined common substrate measure in four population-based cohorts (n = 2271), followed by meta-analysis and replication in a fifth cohort (n = 865). After correction for covariates, the heritability of the common substrate was estimated at 0.50 (standard error 0.18). The top single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs17076061 was associated with the common substrate at genome-wide significance and replicated, explaining 1.2% of the common substrate variance. This SNP mapped to a locus on chromosome 5q35.2 harboring genes involved in neuronal development and regeneration. In follow-up analyses, rs17076061 was not robustly associated with psychiatric disease, and no overlap was found between the broader genetic architecture of the common substrate and genetic risk for major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia. In conclusion, our study identified that common genetic variation indeed influences the common substrate, but that these variants do not directly translate to increased disease risk. Future studies should investigate gene-by-environment interactions and employ functional imaging to understand how salience network structure translates to psychiatric disorder risk.

scholarly journals Stress-induced anatomical changes in white and gray matter: a review of literature

2020 ◽  
Vol 76 (06) ◽  
pp. 6400-2020
Author(s):  
IWONA ŁUSZCZEWSKA-SIERAKOWSKA ◽  
KAMIL JONAK
Keyword(s):  
White Matter ◽  
Gray Matter ◽  
Traumatic Event ◽  
Gray Matter Volume ◽  
Hippocampal Neurogenesis ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Total Brain Volume ◽  
Extreme Stress ◽  
Mri Morphometry ◽  
The Right

Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric abnormality caused by a drastic traumatic event or extreme stress, that exceeds the capability to adapt. There are many papers reporting anatomical brain changes induced by trauma and extreme stress, not only in white matter but in gray matter as well. Extreme stress and trauma are connected with elevation of cortisol level, which may cause damage to the hippocampus and may interfere with the anatomy of the hippocampus as well as its microstructure and cell number. Stress may inhibit the hippocampal neuroregeneration as well as hippocampal neurogenesis and even induce neuronal death within the hippocampus. Diffusor tensor imaging (DTI) is a powerful method enabling the visualization of the microstructure integrity of white matter, to evaluate the changes (rate and directionality) of water diffusion within myelin tracts and provide enhanced images of white matter tracts compared to traditional MRI morphometry images. One can evaluate the differences in white matter using fractional anisotropy (FA), which is a scalar metric of the degree of anisotropy and diffusion direction of water molecules, indicating fiber density, mylination and axon diameter. Many studies report reduced gray matter volume caused by extreme stress or trauma in people both with the diagnosis of PTSD as well as stress-exposed non PTSD in comparison to healthy controls. Studies have revealed reduced volume mostly in the hippocampus but also in regions such as anterior cingulate, corpus callosum, insula, septum pellucidum, subcallosal cortex, amygdala, prefrontal cortex and total brain volume. The right hippocampus may be prone to the effect of stress much more than the left hippocampus. Moreover, comparing trauma-exposed non-PTSD and PTSD participants, they have found volumetric abnormalities only within the right hippocampus among the PTSD group. They suggest an additional pathological process underlying PTSD, connected with the right hippocampus volume.

scholarly journals Attentional bias to threat and gray mater volume morphology in high anxious individuals

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua M. Carlson ◽  
Lin Fang
Keyword(s):  
Attentional Bias ◽  
Parietal Cortex ◽  
Gray Matter ◽  
Posterior Parietal Cortex ◽  
Gray Matter Volume ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Brain Morphology ◽  
Matter Volume ◽  
Posterior Parietal ◽  
The Right

AbstractIn a sample of highly anxious individuals, the relationship between gray matter volume brain morphology and attentional bias to threat was assessed. Participants performed a dot-probe task of attentional bias to threat and gray matter volume was acquired from whole brain structural T1-weighted MRI scans. The results replicate previous findings in unselected samples that elevated attentional bias to threat is linked to greater gray matter volume in the anterior cingulate cortex, middle frontal gyrus, and striatum. In addition, we provide novel evidence that elevated attentional bias to threat is associated with greater gray matter volume in the right posterior parietal cortex, cerebellum, and other distributed regions. Lastly, exploratory analyses provide initial evidence that distinct sub-regions of the right posterior parietal cortex may contribute to attentional bias in a sex-specific manner. Our results illuminate how differences in gray matter volume morphology relate to attentional bias to threat in anxious individuals. This knowledge could inform neurocognitive models of anxiety-related attentional bias to threat and targets of neuroplasticity in anxiety interventions such as attention bias modification.

scholarly journals Reduced Cortical Complexity in Cirrhotic Patients with Minimal Hepatic Encephalopathy

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiu-Feng Chen ◽  
Xiao-Hong Zhang ◽  
Tian-Xiu Zou ◽  
Nao-Xin Huang ◽  
Hua-Jun Chen
Keyword(s):  
Hepatic Encephalopathy ◽  
Cognitive Performance ◽  
Gray Matter Volume ◽  
Structural Complexity ◽  
Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Minimal Hepatic Encephalopathy ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Psychiatric Disease ◽  
Cirrhotic Patients ◽  
The Right

Purpose. Gray matter volume loss, regional cortical thinning, and local gyrification index alteration have been documented in minimal hepatic encephalopathy (MHE). Fractal dimension (FD), another morphological parameter, has been widely used to describe structural complexity alterations in neurological or psychiatric disease. Here, we conducted the first study to investigate FD alterations in MHE. Methods and Materials. We performed high-resolution structural magnetic resonance imaging on cirrhotic patients with MHE (n=20) and healthy controls (n=21). We evaluated their cognitive performance using the psychometric hepatic encephalopathy score (PHES). The regional FD value was calculated by Computational Anatomy Toolbox (CAT12) and compared between groups. We further estimated the association between patients’ cognitive performance and FD values. Results. MHE patients presented significantly decreased FD values in the left precuneus, left supramarginal gyrus, right caudal anterior cingulate cortex, right isthmus cingulate cortex, right insula, bilateral pericalcarine cortex, and bilateral paracentral cortex compared to normal controls. In addition, the FD values in the right isthmus cingulate cortex and right insula were shown to be positively correlated with patients’ cognitive performance. Conclusion. Aberrant cortical complexity is an additional characteristic of MHE, and FD analysis may provide novel insight into the neurobiological basis of cognitive dysfunction in MHE.

scholarly journals Reduced gray matter volume in the orbitofrontal cortex is associated with greater body mass index: a coordinate-based meta-analysis

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eunice Y. Chen ◽  
Susan Murray ◽  
Tania Giovannetti ◽  
David V. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Body Mass Index ◽  
Body Mass ◽  
Gray Matter ◽  
Default Mode Network ◽  
Orbitofrontal Cortex ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Gray Matter Volume ◽  
Default Mode ◽  
Matter Volume ◽  
The Right

AbstractMeta-analyses of neuroimaging studies have not found a clear relationship between the orbitofrontal cortex and obesity, despite animal and human studies suggesting the contrary. Our primary meta-analysis examined what regions are associated with reduced gray matter volume, given increased body mass index. We identified 23 voxel-based morphometry studies examining the association between gray matter volume and body mass index. In a sample of 6,788 participants, we found that greater body mass index is associated with decreased gray matter volume in the right Brodmanns’ area 10 and 11, forming part of the right orbitofrontal cortex (FWE, p=0.05). Use of Brodmanns’ areas 10 and 11 as seeds in a Neurosynth network coactivation and text decoding analysis revealed that these regions are associated with studies of emotional regulation and processing, clinical symptoms and disorder, ‘mentalizing’ and social cognition, and the Default mode network. Our finding uniquely contributes to the literature in showing a relationship between the orbitofrontal cortex and obesity and showing the wide-ranging impact these differences may have on social, mental, and emotional functioning as well as on the Default mode network. Exploratory analyses suggest the need for studies examining the effect of age on these findings.

scholarly journals Neural substrates for moral judgments of psychological versus physical harm

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lily Tsoi ◽  
James A Dungan ◽  
Alek Chakroff ◽  
Liane Young
Keyword(s):  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Psychological Impact ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Moral Judgments ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Adults With Autism ◽  
Temporoparietal Junction ◽  
The Right ◽  
Multivariate Pattern

Although harm primarily elicits thoughts of physical injuries, harm can also take the form of negative psychological impact. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we examined the extent to which moral judgments of physical and psychological harms are processed similarly, focusing on brain regions implicated in mental state reasoning or theory of mind, a key cognitive process for moral judgment. Univariate analyses reveal similar levels of theory of mind processing for psychological and physical harms, though multivariate pattern analyses (MVPA) reveal sensitivity to the psychological/physical distinction in two regions implicated in theory of mind: the right temporoparietal junction and the precuneus. Moreover, while there were no differences in neurotypical adults and adults with autism spectrum disorder with regard to neural activity related to theory of mind, there was a group difference in the recruitment of the anterior cingulate cortex for psychological versus physical harms. Altogether, these results reveal sensitivity within regions implicated in theory of mind to the physical / psychological distinction as well as neural processes that capture clinically relevant differences in evaluations of psychological harms versus physical harms.

scholarly journals Brain Structural Changes in Regions Within the Salience Network in Patients with Functional Constipation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhenzhen Jia ◽  
Guanya Li ◽  
Yang Hu ◽  
Hao Li ◽  
Wenchao Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Negative Correlation ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Diffusion Tensor ◽  
Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders ◽  
Structural Connectivity ◽  
Functional Constipation ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Salience Network ◽  
Abdominal Symptoms ◽  
The Right

Abstract Functional constipation (FCon) is one of the common functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGID). Previous studies reported alterations in cortical morphometry as well as changes in white matter (WM) fiber tracts and thalamo-limbic/parietal structural connectivity (SC). However, whether patients with FCon are implicated in changes in gray matter (GM) volume and associated SC remains unclear. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) was first employed to examine differences in GM volume between 48 patients with FCon and 52 healthy controls (HC). Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) with probabilistic tractography analysis was then employed to explore alterations in SC of these regions. Compared with the HC, patients with FCon showed decreased GM volumes in the right middle frontal gyrus (MFG_R), left insula (INS_L), and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC, PFWE < 0.05) which had a negative correlation with abdominal symptoms and difficulty of defecation respectively. Seed-based SC showed patients with FCon had decreased fractional anisotropy (FA) of bilateral INS-ACC, bilateral ACC-MFG, bilateral INS-MFG, increased axial diffusivity (AD) of bilateral ACC-MFG, and decreased radial diffusivity (RD) of bilateral INS-ACC, bilateral ACC-MFG tracts. FA of the right INS-ACC tract had a negative correlation with difficulty of defecation and AD of the ACC-left MFG tract had a negative correlation with stool symptoms. These findings reflect patients with FCon are implicated in changes in GM volumes and corresponding SC in brain regions within the salience network.

scholarly journals Comparing the structure and function of social-cognition-related brain areas in bisexual, heterosexual, and homosexual women and men

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victoria Klimaj ◽  
Adam Safron ◽  
David Sylva ◽  
A.M. Rosenthal ◽  
Meng Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Cognition ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Gray Matter Volume ◽  
Sex And Gender ◽  
Social Environments ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Temporoparietal Junction ◽  
Mixed Support ◽  
The Right

A small number of studies have examined neuroanatomical differences between heterosexual and homosexual men and women. These studies have yielded mixed support for the hypothesis that homosexual individuals possess sex-atypical neural anatomy. However, in addition to differing along dimensions of sex-typicality, non-heterosexual individuals’ brains may be different in other ways, potentially as a result of differences in experience. One way in which sexual minorities may differ from others is in their social experiences. Bisexual individuals in particular may occupy unique social niches and experience complex social environments as a result of sexual and romantic interactions with both men and women, and potentially also in terms of having a less-widely-recognized sexual identity than heterosexual and homosexual individuals. Based on this idea, we hypothesized that bisexual individuals may show increased gray matter volume and activity in two social-cognition-related areas of the brain: the right temporoparietal junction (rTPJ) and the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC). Contrary to our hypotheses, neither brain structure nor brain activity in the rTPJ and dmPFC were significantly greater in bisexual individuals than in heterosexual and homosexual individuals. Instead, we found larger rTPJ volumes in heterosexual women than in homosexual women. We also found larger relative volumes in the dmPFC in women than in men, consistent with a recent large-scale study of sex differences, and potentially indicative of sex and gender differences in social cognition.

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