title: Impact of the genome wide supported NRGN gene on anterior cingulate morphology in schizophrenia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The rs12807809 single-nucleotide polymorphism in NRGN is a genetic risk variant with genome-wide significance for schizophrenia. The frequency of the T allele of rs12807809 is higher in individuals with schizophrenia than in those without the disorder. Reduced immunoreactivity of NRGN, which is expressed exclusively in the brain, has been observed in Brodmann areas (BA) 9 and 32 of the prefrontal cortex in postmortem brains from patients with schizophrenia compared with those in controls.
  
  
  METHODS
  Genotype effects of rs12807809 were investigated on gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) volumes using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with a voxel-based morphometry (VBM) technique in a sample of 99 Japanese patients with schizophrenia and 263 healthy controls.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Although significant genotype-diagnosis interaction either on GM or WM volume was not observed, there was a trend of genotype-diagnosis interaction on GM volume in the left anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Thus, the effects of NRGN genotype on GM volume of patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls were separately investigated. In patients with schizophrenia, carriers of the risk T allele had a smaller GM volume in the left ACC (BA32) than did carriers of the non-risk C allele. Significant genotype effect on other regions of the GM or WM was not observed for either the patients or controls.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings suggest that the genome-wide associated genetic risk variant in the NRGN gene may be related to a small GM volume in the ACC in the left hemisphere in patients with schizophrenia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazutaka
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ohi
authors.forename: Ryota
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hashimoto
authors.forename: Yuka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yasuda
authors.forename: Kiyotaka
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nemoto
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ohnishi
authors.forename: Motoyuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fukumoto
authors.forename: Hidenaga
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yamamori
authors.forename: Satomi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Umeda-Yano
authors.forename: Takeya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Okada
authors.forename: Masao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Iwase
authors.forename: Hiroaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kazui
authors.forename: Masatoshi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takeda
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000483:Alleles; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D015894:Genome, Human / Q000235:genetics*; D005838:Genotype; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D051579:Neurogranin / Q000235:genetics*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: C496649:NRGN protein, human; D051579:Neurogranin