title: Reduced mediodorsal thalamic volume and prefrontal cortical spindle activity in schizophrenia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  We recently found marked deficits in sleep spindles, non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep oscillations that are generated within the thalamus and then amplified and sustained in the cortex, in patients with schizophrenia compared to both healthy and psychiatric controls. Here, we investigated the thalamic and cortical contributions to these sleep spindle deficits.
  
  
  METHODS
  Anatomical volume of interest analysis (i.e., thalamic volumes) and electroencephalogram (EEG) source modeling (i.e., spindle-related cortical currents) were performed in patients with schizophrenia and healthy comparison subjects.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Schizophrenia patients had reduced mediodorsal (MD) thalamic volumes, especially on the left side, compared to healthy controls, whereas whole thalami and lateral geniculate nuclei did not differ between groups. Furthermore, left MD volumes were strongly correlated with the number of scalp-recorded spindles in an anterior frontal region, and cortical currents underlying these anterior frontal spindles were localized in the prefrontal cortex, in Brodmann area (BA) 10. Finally, prefrontal currents at the peak of spindle activity were significantly reduced in schizophrenia patients and correlated with their performance in an abstraction/working memory task.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Altogether, these findings point to deficits in a specific thalamo-cortical circuitry in schizophrenia, which is associated with some cognitive deficits commonly reported in those patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of WI-Madison, USA.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Buchmann
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of WI-Madison, USA.
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dentico
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of WI-Madison, USA.
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Peterson
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of WI-Madison, USA.
authors.forename: Brady A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Riedner
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of WI-Madison, USA; Department of Clinical Sciences, University of Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Simone
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sarasso
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of WI-Madison, USA; Department of Clinical Sciences, University of Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Marcello
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Massimini
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of WI-Madison, USA.
authors.forename: Giulio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tononi
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of WI-Madison, USA; Department of Clinical Sciences, University of Milan, Italy. Electronic address: fferrarelli@uwhealth.org.
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ferrarelli
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D058256:Brain Waves; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D020645:Mediodorsal Thalamic Nucleus / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: MRI; Prefrontal cortex; Schizophrenia; Sleep spindles; Thalamus; hd-EEG