title: Influence of vascular endothelial growth factor variation on human hippocampus morphology.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Morphological abnormalities in hippocampus have been implicated in neuropsychiatric disorders, including depression, schizophrenia, and dementia. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) has been demonstrated to have neurogenic effects in the hippocampus in rats. However, influence of VEGF variation on hippocampus morphology in humans has yet to be shown. Here, an integrated genetic and neuroimaging approach was used to investigate whether VEGF variation influences hippocampus morphology in humans.
  
  
  METHODS
  High-resolution magnetic resonance imaging and voxel-based morphometry were used to identify the influence of genetic variation of VEGFA [rs833068 (SNP-1), rs833070 (SNP-2), rs2146323 (SNP-3) and rs3025020 (SNP-4)] on brain morphology in 47 healthy individuals.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Variation in VEGFA SNP-2 and SNP-3 showed significant effects on hippocampus concentration.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings suggest that effects of VEGF in hippocampus found in rats extend to humans; further understanding of effects of VEGFA variation might have important implications in identifying individuals more vulnerable to hippocampus pathology as well as those neuropsychiatric populations most likely to benefit from VEGF-mediated interventions.
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut; Veterans Affairs Connecticut Healthcare System, West Haven, Connecticut. Electronic address: hilary.blumberg@yale.edu.
authors: Hilary P
authors: HP
authors: Blumberg
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut; Veterans Affairs Connecticut Healthcare System, West Haven, Connecticut.
authors: Fei
authors: F
authors: Wang
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut; Veterans Affairs Connecticut Healthcare System, West Haven, Connecticut.
authors: Lara G
authors: LG
authors: Chepenik
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut; Veterans Affairs Connecticut Healthcare System, West Haven, Connecticut.
authors: Jessica H
authors: JH
authors: Kalmar
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut; Veterans Affairs Connecticut Healthcare System, West Haven, Connecticut.
authors: Elliot Kale
authors: EK
authors: Edmiston
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut.
authors: Ronald S
authors: RS
authors: Duman
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut; Veterans Affairs Connecticut Healthcare System, West Haven, Connecticut.
authors: Joel
authors: J
authors: Gelernter
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D006801:Humans; D015810:Linkage Disequilibrium; D008297:Male; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide / Q000235:genetics*; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000235:genetics*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A