title: Amygdala volume is reduced in early course schizophrenia.
abstract: Subcortical structural alterations have been implicated in the neuropathology of schizophrenia. Yet, the extent of anatomical alterations for subcortical structures across illness phases remains unknown. To assess this, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to examine volume differences of major subcortical structures: thalamus, nucleus accumbens, caudate, putamen, globus pallidus, amygdala and hippocampus. These differences were examined across four groups: (i) healthy comparison subjects (HCS, n=96); (ii) individuals at high risk (HR, n=21) for schizophrenia; (iii) early-course schizophrenia patients (EC-SCZ, n=28); and (iv) chronic schizophrenia patients (C-SCZ, n=20). Raw gray matter volumes and volumetric ratios (volume of specific structure/total gray matter volume) were extracted using automated segmentation tools. EC-SCZ group exhibited smaller bilateral amygdala volumetric ratios, compared to HCS and HR subjects. Findings did not change when corrected for age, level of education and medication use. Amygdala raw volumes did not differ among groups once adjusted for multiple comparisons, but the smaller amygdala volumetric ratio in EC-SCZ survived Bonferroni correction. Other structures were not different across the groups following Bonferroni correction. Smaller amygdala volumes during early illness course may reflect pathophysiologic changes specific to illness development, including disrupted salience processing and acute stress responses.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, 300 George Street, New Haven, CT 06511, USA; College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.
authors.forename: Alyson M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Rich
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, 300 George Street, New Haven, CT 06511, USA.
authors.forename: Youngsun T
authors.initials: YT
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, The First Affiliated Hospital, China Medical University, Shenyang 110001, Liaoning, PR China.
authors.forename: Yanqing
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: University Psychiatric Hospital Vrapce, University of Zagreb, Zagreb 10000, Croatia.
authors.forename: Aleksandar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Savic
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, 300 George Street, New Haven, CT 06511, USA; Abraham Ribicoff Research Facilities, Connecticut Mental Health Center, New Haven, CT 06519, USA; NIAAA Center for the Translational Neuroscience of Alcoholism, New Haven, CT 06519, USA.
authors.forename: John H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Krystal
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, 300 George Street, New Haven, CT 06511, USA; Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital, China Medical University, Shenyang 110001, Liaoning, PR China.
authors.forename: Fei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital, China Medical University, Shenyang 110001, Liaoning, PR China. Electronic address: kexu@vip.sina.com.
authors.forename: Ke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, 300 George Street, New Haven, CT 06511, USA; Department of Psychiatry, The First Affiliated Hospital, China Medical University, Shenyang 110001, Liaoning, PR China; Abraham Ribicoff Research Facilities, Connecticut Mental Health Center, New Haven, CT 06519, USA; NIAAA Center for the Translational Neuroscience of Alcoholism, New Haven, CT 06519, USA; Department of Psychology, Yale University, 2 Hillhouse Avenue, CT 06520, USA; Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA. Electronic address: alan.anticevic@yale.edu.
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Anticevic
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000679:Amygdala / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D042241:Early Diagnosis; D005260:Female; D005917:Globus Pallidus / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D066128:Gray Matter / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D009714:Nucleus Accumbens / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D009929:Organ Size; D011699:Putamen / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology; D013788:Thalamus / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Chronic; Illness stage; Neuroimaging; Structural