title: Pituitary volume in schizophrenia spectrum disorders.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There is converging evidence supporting hyperactivity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis in schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD), such as schizotypal personality disorder (SPD), first-episode schizophrenia (FESZ) and chronic schizophrenia (CHSZ). Such an aberrant HPA activity might have volumetric consequences on the pituitary gland. However, previous magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies assessing pituitary volume (PV) in SSD are conflicting. The main objective of this study was to examine further PV in SSD.
  
  
  METHODS
  PV were manually traced on structural MRIs in 137 subjects, including subjects with SPD (n = 40), FESZ (n = 15), CHSZ (n = 15), and HC (n = 67). We used an ANCOVA to test PV between groups and gender while controlling for inter-subject variability in age, years of education, socioeconomic status, and whole brain volume.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall, women had larger PV than men, and within the male sample all SSD subjects had smaller PV than HC, statistically significant only for the SPD group. In addition, dose of medication, illness duration and age of onset were not associated with PV.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Chronic untreated HPA hyperactivity might account for smaller PV in SPD subjects, whereas the absence of PV changes in FESZ and CHSZ patients might be related to the normalizing effects of antipsychotics on PV. SPD studies offer a way to examine HPA related alterations in SSD without the potential confounds of medication effects.
authors.affiliation: Psychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Romo-Nava
authors.forename: W S
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Hoogenboom
authors.forename: P E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Pelavin
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Alvarado
authors.forename: L H
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Bobrow
authors.forename: F P
authors.initials: FP
authors.lastname: Macmaster
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Keshavan
authors.forename: R W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: McCarley
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Shenton
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007030:Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System / Q000473:pathology*; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010870:Pineal Gland / Q000473:pathology*; D010913:Pituitary-Adrenal System / Q000473:pathology*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000473:pathology*; D012569:Schizotypal Personality Disorder / Q000473:pathology*; D055815:Young Adult