title: Hippocampal volume correlates with attenuated negative psychotic symptoms irrespective of antidepressant medication.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Individuals with at-risk mental state for psychosis (ARMS) often suffer from depressive and anxiety symptoms, which are clinically similar to the negative symptomatology described for psychosis. Thus, many ARMS individuals are already being treated with antidepressant medication.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To investigate clinical and structural differences between psychosis high-risk individuals with or without antidepressants.
  
  
  METHODS
  We compared ARMS individuals currently receiving antidepressants (ARMS-AD; n = 18), ARMS individuals not receiving antidepressants (ARMS-nonAD; n = 31) and healthy subjects (HC; n = 24), in terms of brain structure abnormalities, using voxel-based morphometry. We also performed region of interest analysis for the hippocampus, anterior cingulate cortex, amygdala and precuneus.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The ARMS-AD had higher 'depression' and lower 'motor hyperactivity' scores than the ARMS-nonAD. Compared to HC, there was significantly less GMV in the middle frontal gyrus in the whole ARMS cohort and in the superior frontal gyrus in the ARMS-AD subgroup. Compared to ARMS-nonAD, the ARMS-AD group showed more gray matter volume (GMV) in the left superior parietal lobe, but less GMV in the left hippocampus and the right precuneus. We found a significant negative correlation between attenuated negative symptoms and hippocampal volume in the whole ARMS cohort.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Reduced GMV in the hippocampus and precuneus is associated with short-term antidepressant medication and more severe depressive symptoms. Hippocampal volume is further negatively correlated with attenuated negative psychotic symptoms. Longitudinal studies are needed to distinguish whether hippocampal volume deficits in the ARMS are related to attenuated negative psychotic symptoms or to antidepressant action.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry (UPK), Wilhelm Klein-Strasse 27, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Raffaele
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bernasconi
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry (UPK), Wilhelm Klein-Strasse 27, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Renata
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Smieskova
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry (UPK), Wilhelm Klein-Strasse 27, Basel, Switzerland ; Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: André
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry (UPK), Wilhelm Klein-Strasse 27, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Fabienne
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Harrisberger
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry (UPK), Wilhelm Klein-Strasse 27, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Nora Maria
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Raschle
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry (UPK), Wilhelm Klein-Strasse 27, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lenz
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry (UPK), Wilhelm Klein-Strasse 27, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Walter
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry (UPK), Wilhelm Klein-Strasse 27, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Andor
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Simon
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry (UPK), Wilhelm Klein-Strasse 27, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Anita
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Riecher-Rössler
authors.affiliation: Medical Image Analysis Centre, University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Ernst-Wilhelm
authors.initials: EW
authors.lastname: Radue
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry (UPK), Wilhelm Klein-Strasse 27, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Undine E
authors.initials: UE
authors.lastname: Lang
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry (UPK), Wilhelm Klein-Strasse 27, Basel, Switzerland ; Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Fusar-Poli
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry (UPK), Wilhelm Klein-Strasse 27, Basel, Switzerland ; Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK ; Medical Image Analysis Centre, University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Stefan J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Borgwardt
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003863:Depression / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000473:pathology*; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000928:Antidepressive Agents
keywords: Antidepressant medication; Hippocampus; Negative psychotic symptoms; Precuneus; Structural MRI