Brain structure in schizophrenia vs. psychotic bipolar I disorder: A VBM study.
While schizophrenia and bipolar disorder have been assumed to share phenotypic and genotypic features, there is also evidence for overlapping brain structural correlates, although it is unclear whether these relate to shared psychotic features. In this study, we used voxel-based morphometry (VBM8) in 34 schizophrenia patients, 17 euthymic bipolar I disorder patients (with a history of psychotic symptoms), and 34 healthy controls. Our results indicate that compared to healthy controls schizophrenia patients show grey matter deficits (p<0.05, FDR corrected) in medial and right dorsolateral prefrontal, as well as bilaterally in ventrolateral prefrontal and insular cortical areas, thalamus (bilaterally), left superior temporal cortex, and minor medial parietal and parietooccipital areas. Comparing schizophrenia vs. bipolar I patients (p<0.05, FDR corrected) yielded a similar pattern, however, there was an additional significant reduction in schizophrenia patients in the (posterior) hippocampus bilaterally, left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and left cerebellum. Compared to healthy controls, the deficits in bipolar I patients only reached significance at p<0.001 (uncorr.) for a minor parietal cluster, but not for prefrontal areas. Our results suggest that the more extensive prefrontal, thalamic, and hippocampal deficits that might set apart schizophrenia and bipolar disorder might not be related to mere appearance of psychotic symptoms at some stage of the disorders.
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Jena University Hospital, Jena, Germany. Electronic address: igor.nenadic@uni-jena.de.
Igor
I
Nenadic
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Jena University Hospital, Jena, Germany.
Raka
R
Maitra
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Jena University Hospital, Jena, Germany.
Kerstin
K
Langbein
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Jena University Hospital, Jena, Germany.
Maren
M
Dietzek
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Jena University Hospital, Jena, Germany.
Carsten
C
Lorenz
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Jena University Hospital, Jena, Germany.
Stefan
S
Smesny
Medical Physics Group, Institute of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology (IDIR), Jena University Hospital, Jena, Germany.
Jürgen R
JR
Reichenbach
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Jena University Hospital, Jena, Germany.
Heinrich
H
Sauer
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Jena University Hospital, Jena, Germany; Department of Neurology, Jena University Hospital, Jena, Germany.
Christian
C
Gaser
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000473:pathology*; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000473:pathology*; D055815:Young Adult
Bipolar disorder; Hippocampus; Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI); Prefrontal cortex (PFC); Psychosis; Schizophrenia; Thalamus; Voxel-based morphometry (VBM)