Year: 2019
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Abnormal neuroanatomic brain networks have been reported in schizophrenia, but their characterization across patients with psychotic disorders, and their potential alterations in nonpsychotic relatives, remain to be clarified. Participants recruited by the Bipolar and Schizophrenia Network for Intermediate Phenotypes consortium included 326 probands with psychotic disorders (107 with schizophrenia (SZ), 87 with schizoaffective disorder (SAD), 132 with psychotic bipolar disorder (BD)), 315 of their nonpsychotic first-degree relatives and 202 healthy controls. Single-subject gray matter graphs were extracted from structural MRI scans, and whole-brain neuroanatomic organization was compared across the participant groups. Compared with healthy controls, psychotic probands showed decreased nodal efficiency mainly in bilateral superior temporal regions. These regions had altered morphological relationships primarily with frontal lobe regions, and their network-level alterations were associated with positive symptoms of psychosis. Nonpsychotic relatives showed lower nodal centrality metrics in the prefrontal cortex and subcortical regions, and higher nodal centrality metrics in the left cingulate cortex and left thalamus. Diagnosis-specific analysis indicated that individuals with SZ had lower nodal efficiency in bilateral superior temporal regions than controls, probands with SAD only exhibited lower nodal efficiency in the left superior and middle temporal gyrus, and individuals with psychotic BD did not show significant differences from healthy controls. Our findings provide novel evidence of clinically relevant disruptions in the anatomic association of the superior temporal lobe with other regions of whole-brain networks in patients with psychotic disorders, but not in their unaffected relatives, suggesting that it is a disease-related trait. Network disorganization primarily involving frontal lobe and subcortical regions in nonpsychotic relatives may be related to familial illness risk.
Source: Neuropsychopharmacology
Institutions: Sichuan University, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, University of Cincinnati, University of Chicago, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, University of Minnesota, University of Georgia, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard University, Yale University, West China Medical Center of Sichuan University
Language: English
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,760
Funders: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Eli Lilly and Company, Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, Sunovion, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Sichuan University, Astellas Pharma, National Institutes of Health, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, National Institute of Mental Health, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences
Awards: G1044130170, G208937423, G2241124166, 1/5 Bipolar-Schizophrenia Network for Intermediate Phenotypes 2 (B-SNIP 2) - Resu, G2458313802, G296490163, G321263122, G3966096240, G4541319330, G4863277230, G5107571195, G568434048, G6027800162, G6235058662, G6301362210, G6304496351, G6528626969, G661573911, G747270101, Bipolar & Schizophrenia Consortium for Parsing Intermediate Phenotypes, G774772139, G7899741169, G8615419896, 3/5 Bipolar-Schizophrenia Network for Intermediate Phenotypes 2 (BSNIP-2), Yale Clinical and Translational Science Award, G900877862
OpenAlex ID: W2991998463