title: Grey matter morphological anomalies in the caudate head in first-episode psychosis patients with delusions of reference.
abstract: Delusions of reference (DOR) are theoretically linked with aberrant salience and associative learning. Previous studies have shown that the caudate nucleus plays a critical role in the cognitive circuits of coding prediction errors and associative learning. The current study aimed at testing the hypothesis that abnormalities in the caudate nucleus may be involved in the neuroanatomical substrate of DOR. Structural magnetic resonance imaging of the brain was performed in 44 first-episode psychosis patients (with diagnoses of schizophrenia or schizophreniform disorder) and 25 healthy controls. Patients were divided into three groups according to symptoms: patients with DOR as prominent positive symptom; patients with prominent positive symptoms other than DOR; and patients with minimal positive symptoms. All groups were age-, gender-, and education-matched, and patient groups were matched for diagnosis, duration of illness, and antipsychotic treatment. Voxel-based morphometric analysis was performed to identify group differences in grey matter density. Relationships were explored between grey matter density and DOR. Patients with DOR were found to have reduced grey matter density in the caudate compared with patients without DOR and healthy controls. Grey matter density values of the left and right caudate head were negatively correlated with DOR severity. Decreased grey matter density in the caudate nucleus may underlie DOR in early psychosis.
authors.affiliation: Mental Health Institute of The Second Xiangya Hospital, National Technology Institute of Psychiatry, Key Laboratory of Psychiatry and Mental Health of Hunan Province, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China. Electronic address: taohaojuan@163.com.
authors.forename: Haojuan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tao
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong; Sau Po Centre on Ageing, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. Electronic address: ggloriawong@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Gloria H Y
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.affiliation: Mental Health Institute of The Second Xiangya Hospital, National Technology Institute of Psychiatry, Key Laboratory of Psychiatry and Mental Health of Hunan Province, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.
authors.forename: Huiran
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Behavioural Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Yuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Mental Health Institute of The Second Xiangya Hospital, National Technology Institute of Psychiatry, Key Laboratory of Psychiatry and Mental Health of Hunan Province, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.
authors.forename: Zhimin
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Xue
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Nuclear Analysis Techniques, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Baoci
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Shan
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Eric Y H
authors.initials: EY
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Mental Health Institute of The Second Xiangya Hospital, National Technology Institute of Psychiatry, Key Laboratory of Psychiatry and Mental Health of Hunan Province, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.
authors.forename: Zhening
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002421:Caudate Nucleus / Q000473:pathology*; D003702:Delusions / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D066128:Gray Matter / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D014150:Antipsychotic Agents
keywords: Caudate; Delusions; Grey matter morphology; Voxel-based morphometry