Voxel-based morphometric analysis on the volume of gray matter in bipolar I disorder

A number of previous studies have found that bipolar disorder is associated with abnormalities of brain structure. In this study we used optimized voxel-based morphometry (VBM) to compare gray matter volume between patients with bipolar I disorder and healthy controls. Twenty-four bipolar I patients (15 males and nine females) and 36 healthy controls (21 males and 15 females), who were well matched for age and gender, were scanned using structural magnetic resonance imaging. Gray matter volume was assessed and compared using optimized VBM, and the correlation between duration of illness/number of episodes and regional volumes was analyzed. There was no difference in whole-brain gray matter volume between the two groups. Optimized vVBM showed that subjects with bipolar I disorder had smaller volumes in the left inferior parietal lobule, right superior temporal gyrus, right middle frontal gyrus and left caudate. Only the volume of the right middle frontal gyrus was correlated with duration of illness and number of episodes in patients. These results suggest widespread gray matter defects in bipolar I disorder, which may play an important role in onset of the illness.     

Gray matter volume differences and the effects of smoking on gray matter in schizophrenia

OBJECTIVE: Many studies have evaluated differences in gray matter volume in schizophrenia, but have not considered the possible effects of smoking, which is extraordinarily common in people with the illness. The present study used voxel-based morphometry (VBM) to examine differences in gray matter in subjects with schizophrenia and evaluate the effects of smoking on this measure. METHODS: Thirty-two subjects with schizophrenia (14 smokers, 18 non-smokers) and 32 healthy comparison subjects participated in the study. Whole brain, voxel-wise analyses of regional gray matter volume were conducted using voxel-based morphometry (VBM). RESULTS: Reduced gray matter was observed in the schizophrenia group in the orbitofrontal cortex, bilateral insula and superior temporal gyri (STG), bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortices (DLPFC), medial frontal gyrus, and cingulate gyrus. Within this group, smoking subjects had greater lateral prefrontal and STG gray matter volumes relative to non-smoking subjects. CONCLUSIONS: The finding of reduced gray matter volume in prefrontal and temporal regions in schizophrenia is consistent with prior anatomical tracing and whole-brain voxel-based studies. Greater gray matter volumes in smoking relative to non-smoking subjects with schizophrenia highlight a potential experimental confound in volumetric studies and suggests that smoking may be associated with a relative preservation of lateral prefrontal and temporal gray matter in schizophrenia.     

Quantitative meta-analysis of gray matter abnormalities in semantic dementia

Cumulative evidence of gray matter abnormalities in semantic dementia (SD) has been reported using voxel-based morphometry (VBM). However, these studies have not been reviewed quantitatively. To estimate gray matter changes in SD quantitatively, we systematically searched whole-brain VBM studies comparing SD patients with healthy controls in the PubMed, ISI Web of Science, and EMABSE databases from January 1990 to August 2011. Coordinates with significant differences between the gray matter volumes of SD patients and healthy controls were extracted from clusters. Meta-analysis was performed using anatomic likelihood estimation. Seven studies, with 68 SD patients and 167 healthy controls, were included. Gray matter volume reductions were found in bilateral fusiform and inferior temporal gyri, extending to the medial portion of the temporal lobes (including amygdala and parahippocampal gyri), left temporal pole, middle temporal gyrus, and caudate. No significant increase in gray matter volume was found. Our findings provide strong evidence of atrophy in bilateral temporal lobes with predominate impairment on the left side, parahippocampal gyrus/amygdala, and left caudate, representing the pathophysiology of SD.     

Voxel-based morphometry study on brain structure in children with high-functioning autism

Earlier studies have suggested abnormal brain volumes in autism, but inconsistencies exist. Using voxel-based morphometry, we compared global and regional brain volumes in 17 high-functioning autistic children with 15 matched controls. We identified significant reduction in left white matter volume and white/gray matter ratio in autism. Regional brain volume reductions were detected for right anterior cingulate, left superior parietal lobule white matter volumes, and right parahippocampal gyrus gray matter volume, whereas enlargements in bilateral supramarginal gyrus, right postcentral gyrus, right medial frontal gyrus, and right posterior lobe of cerebellum gray matter in autism. Our findings showed global and regional brain volumes abnormality in high-functioning autism.     

Altered white matter integrity and development in children with autism: a combined voxel-based morphometry and diffusion imaging study

Background

A combined protocol of voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) was applied to investigate the neurodevelopment of gray and white matter in autism.

Methods

Twenty children with autism (mean age = 7 ± 2.75 years old; age range: 4-14; 2 girls) and 22 matched normally developing children (mean age = 7.68 ± 2.03 years old; age range: 4-11; 2 girls) underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). VBM was employed by applying the Template-o-Matic toolbox (TOM), a new approach which constructs the age-matched customized template for tissue segmentation. Also, the apparent diffusion coefficients (ADC) of water molecules were obtained from the analysis of DWI. Regions of interests (ROIs), standardized at 5 pixels, were placed in cortical lobes and corpus callosum on the non-diffusion weighted echo-planar images (b = 0) and were then automatically transferred to the corresponding maps to obtain the ADC values.

Results

Compared to normal children, individuals with autism had significantly: (1) increased white matter volumes in the right inferior frontal gyrus, the right fusiform gyrus, the left precentral and supplementary motor area and the left hippocampus, (2) increased gray matter volumes in the inferior temporal gyri bilaterally, the right inferior parietal cortex, the right superior occipital lobe and the left superior parietal lobule, and (3) decreased gray matter volumes in the right inferior frontal gyrus and the left supplementary motor area. Abnormally increased ADC values in the bilateral frontal cortex and in the left side of the genu of the corpus callosum were also reported in autism. Finally, age correlated negatively with lobar and callosal ADC measurements in individuals with autism, but not in children with normal development.

Conclusions

These findings suggest cerebral dysconnectivity in the early phases of autism coupled with an altered white matter maturation trajectory during childhood potentially taking place in the frontal and parietal lobes, which may represent a neurodevelopmental marker of the disorder, possibly accounting for the cognitive and social deficits.     

Structural changes in the gray matter of unmedicated patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder: a voxel-based morphometric study

The aim of the current study was to use whole brain voxel-based morphometry（VBM）to assess the gray matter（GM）changes in unmedicated patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder（OCD）compared with normal controls.We compared the GM volumes in28 patients with 22 matched healthy controls using a1.5T MRI.Three-dimensional T1-weighted magnetic resonance images were obtained from all participants.VBM was performed to detect GM volume differences between the two groups.We detected increased regional GM volumes in the bilateral middle temporal gyri,bilateral middle occipital gyri,bilateral globus pallidus,right inferior parietal gyrus,left superior parietal gyrus,right parahippocampus,right supramarginal gyrus,right medial superior frontal gyrus,and left inferior frontal opercular cortex in the OCD patients relative to controls（P〈0.001,uncorrected,cluster size〉100 voxels）.No decreased GM volume was found in the OCD group compared with normal controls.Our findings suggest that structural changes in the GM are not limited to fronto-striato-thalamic circuits in the pathogenesis of OCD.Temporo-parietal cortex may also play an important role.     

Voxel-based structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study of patients with early onset schizophrenia

Background

Investigation into the whole brain morphology of early onset schizophrenia (EOS) to date has been sparse. We studied the regional brain volumes in EOS patients, and the correlations between regional volume measures and symptom severity.

Methods

A total of 18 EOS patients (onset under 16 years) and 18 controls matched for age, gender, parental socioeconomic status, and height were examined. Voxel-based morphometric analysis using the Brain Analysis Morphological Mapping (BAMM) software package was employed to explore alterations of the regional grey (GM) and white matter (WM) volumes in EOS patients. Symptoms were assessed using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS).

Results

EOS patients had significantly reduced GM volume in the left parahippocampal, inferior frontal, and superior temporal gyri, compared with the controls. They also had less WM volume in the left posterior limb of the internal capsule and the left inferior longitudinal fasciculus. The positive symptom score of PANSS (higher values corresponding to more severe symptoms) was negatively related to GM volume in the bilateral posterior cingulate gyrus. The negative symptom score was positively correlated with GM volume in the right thalamus. As for the association with WM volume, the positive symptom score of PANSS was positively related to cerebellar WM (vermis region), and negatively correlated with WM in the brain stem (pons) and in the bilateral cerebellum (hemisphere region).

Conclusion

Our findings of regional volume alterations of GM and WM in EOS patients coincide with those of previous studies of adult onset schizophrenia patients. However, in brain regions that had no overall structural differences between EOS patients and controls (that is, the bilateral posterior cingulate gyrus, the right thalamus, the cerebellum, and the pons), within-subject analysis of EOS patients alone revealed that there were significant associations of the volume in these areas and the symptom severity. These findings suggest that at an early stage of the illness, especially for those with onset before brain maturation, a wide range of disturbed neural circuits, including these brain regions that show no apparent morphological changes, may contribute to the formation of the symptomatology.     

Can Asperger syndrome be distinguished from autism? An anatomic likelihood meta-analysis of MRI studies

Background

The question of whether Asperger syndrome can be distinguished from autism has attracted much debate and may even incur delay in diagnosis and intervention. Accordingly, there has been a proposal for Asperger syndrome to be subsumed under autism in the forthcoming Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition, in 2013. One approach to resolve this question has been to adopt the criterion of absence of clinically significant language or cognitive delay — essentially, the “absence of language delay.” To our knowledge, this is the first meta-analysis of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies of people with autism to compare absence with presence of language delay. It capitalizes on the voxel-based morphometry (VBM) approach to systematically explore the whole brain for anatomic correlates of delay and no delay in language acquisition in people with autism spectrum disorders.

Methods

We conducted a systematic search for VBM MRI studies of grey matter volume in people with autism. Studies with a majority (at least 70%) of participants with autism diagnoses and a history of language delay were assigned to the autism group (n = 151, control n = 190). Those with a majority (at least 70%) of individuals with autism diagnoses and no language delay were assigned to the Asperger syndrome group (n = 149, control n = 214). We entered study coordinates into anatomic likelihood estimation meta-analysis software with sampling size weighting to compare grey matter summary maps driven by Asperger syndrome or autism.

Results

The summary autism grey matter map showed lower volumes in the cerebellum, right uncus, dorsal hippocampus and middle temporal gyrus compared with controls; grey matter volumes were greater in the bilateral caudate, prefrontal lobe and ventral temporal lobe. The summary Asperger syndrome map indicated lower grey matter volumes in the bilateral amygdala/hippocampal gyrus and prefrontal lobe, left occipital gyrus, right cerebellum, putamen and precuneus compared with controls; grey matter volumes were greater in more limited regions, including the bilateral inferior parietal lobule and the left fusiform gyrus. Both Asperger syndrome and autism studies reported volume increase in clusters in the ventral temporal lobe of the left hemisphere.

Limitations

We assigned studies to autism and Asperger syndrome groups for separate analyses of the data and did not carry out a direct statistical group comparison. In addition, studies available for analysis did not capture the entire spectrum, therefore we cannot be certain that our findings apply to a wider population than that sampled.

Conclusion

Whereas grey matter differences in people with Asperger syndrome compared with controls are sparser than those reported in studies of people with autism, the distribution and direction of differences in each category are distinctive.     

Brain volume and dysexecutive behavior in schizophrenia

Objective

Behaviors associated with frontal/executive impairments are common in patients with schizophrenia. Our aim was to reconfirm that morphological brain abnormalities in schizophrenia patients would overlap the areas underpinning frontal systems behavior, and examine whether any specific association exists between abnormalities of brain structures and frontal behavioral deficits in schizophrenia patients.

Method

Twenty-six schizophrenia patients and 26 matched healthy controls underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging and their frontal function was assessed by a self-rating questionnaire, Frontal Systems Behavior Scale (FrSBe). We applied voxel-based morphometry (VBM) to investigate regional brain volume alternations.

Result

Compared with healthy controls, schizophrenia patients showed reduced gray matter volume in multiple frontal and temporal structures, namely, the bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortices (DLPFC), bilateral medial prefrontal cortices, left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, bilateral anterior cingulate cortices, and bilateral superior temporal gyri. The scores on the executive dysfunction subscale of the FrSBe were correlated with volume reduction in the bilateral DLPFC in the patient group.

Conclusion

Our result suggests that pathology of the DLPFC could be the neural basis of real-life dysexecutive behaviors in schizophrenia patients.     

Gray Matter Reduction in the Vermis and CRUS-II Is Associated with Social and Interaction Deficits in Low-Functioning Children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders: a VBM-DARTEL Study

Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) studies have reported abnormalities in brain regions involved in functions that are commonly impaired in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). However, little is known about brain structure anomalies in low-functioning (LF) young children with ASD. A VBM analysis was carried out to assess brain regions involved in ASD LF children, and a multiple regression analysis was used to examine the relationship between regional volume changes and autism symptom measures. Twenty-six LF ASD children (2–10 years) were compared with 21 controls. A VBM-Diffeomorphic Anatomical Registration analysis using Exponentiated Lie algebra (DARTEL) was used to evaluate gray matter (GM) and white matter alterations, covaried with Intelligence Quotient, age, and total brain volume. The resulting altered regions were correlated with Autism Diagnostic Interview (ADI)-Revised and Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS)-Generic scores. GM bilateral reduction was noted in the cerebellum (Crus II and vermis) and in the hippocampi in ASD group. GM reduction was also detected in the inferior and superior frontal gyri, in the occipital medial and superior gyri, and in the inferior temporal gyrus of the left cerebral hemisphere. In the right hemisphere, GM reduction was found in the post-central cortex and in the occipital inferior gyrus. Multiple regression analysis showed a correlation between alterations in GM volume in the cerebellum (Crus II and vermis) and ADI-communication and ADOS-total (communication and interaction) scores. These findings seem to confirm that the cerebellum is involved in integrating and regulating emotional and cognitive functions which are impaired in ASD.     

Correlation between white matter damage and gray matter lesions in multiple sclerosis patients

We observed the characteristics of white matter fibers and gray matter in multiple sclerosis patients, to identify changes in diffusion tensor imaging fractional anisotropy values following white matter fiber injury. We analyzed the correlation between fractional anisotropy values and changes in whole-brain gray matter volume. The participants included 20 patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis and 20 healthy volunteers as controls. All subjects underwent head magnetic resonance imaging and diffusion tensor imaging. Our results revealed that fractional anisotropy values decreased and gray matter volumes were reduced in the genu and splenium of corpus callosum, left anterior thalamic radiation, hippocampus, uncinate fasciculus, right corticospinal tract, bilateral cingulate gyri, and inferior longitudinal fasciculus in multiple sclerosis patients. Gray matter volumes were significantly different between the two groups in the right frontal lobe(superior frontal, middle frontal, precentral, and orbital gyri), right parietal lobe(postcentral and inferior parietal gyri), right temporal lobe(caudate nucleus), right occipital lobe(middle occipital gyrus), right insula, right parahippocampal gyrus, and left cingulate gyrus. The voxel sizes of atrophic gray matter positively correlated with fractional anisotropy values in white matter association fibers in the patient group. These findings suggest that white matter fiber bundles are extensively injured in multiple sclerosis patients. The main areas of gray matter atrophy in multiple sclerosis are the frontal lobe, parietal lobe, caudate nucleus, parahippocampal gyrus, and cingulate gyrus. Gray matter atrophy is strongly associated with white matter injury in multiple sclerosis patients, particularly with injury to association fibers.     

3.0T常规磁共振阴性药物难治性颞叶癫痫脑灰质及结构网络研究

目的探讨3.0T常规磁共振阴性的药物难治性颞叶癫痫(rTLE-N)与药物控制性颞叶癫痫(cTLE-N)脑灰质体积及脑白质结构网络拓扑属性差异。方法选取2017年3月至2019年8月在广西医科大学第一附属医院就诊的20例rTLE-N、15例cTLE-N完成头颅3DT1及DTI扫描,20例健康对照(HC)也完成此项检查。基于体素的形态学分析(VBM)方法比较3组脑灰质体积差异,基于图论的方法比较3组脑白质结构网络拓扑属性差异。结果①VBM结果:与HC组相比,rTLE-N组在双侧海马、丘脑、颞中回、内侧和旁扣带回,左侧直回、眶内额上回,右侧海马旁回灰质体积减少(P<0.001);cTLE-N组右侧颞中回、眶内额上回灰质体积减少(P<0.001)。与cTLE-N组相比,rTLE-N组在双侧岛叶、中央沟盖,左侧海马旁回、眶内额上回、梭状回、小脑6区,右侧丘脑、枕下回灰质体积减少(P<0.001);②脑白质结构网络拓扑属性结果:3组脑白质结构网络均表现出小世界属性。与HC组比较,rTLE-N组最短路径长度(Lp)增加、局部效率(Eloc)及全局效率(Eg)下降(P<0.05),cTLE-N组Lp增加、Eg下降(P<0.05);与cTLE-N组比较,rTLE-N组Lp增加、Eloc及Eg下降(P<0.05)。结论TLE-N是一种脑网络疾病,但rTLE-N与cTLE-N致痫网络不同,cTLE-N脑灰质萎缩较局限但已出现脑结构网络拓扑属性受损,而rTLE-N涉及多个脑区灰质萎缩且脑结构网络拓扑属性损害更严重。     

基于体素的MRI形态学测量对遗忘型轻度认知障碍和轻度阿尔茨海默病脑灰质萎缩的研究

目的：利用磁共振3DT1WI成像研究遗忘型轻度认知障碍（aMCI）、轻度阿尔茨海默病（AD）患者相对于正常老年人灰质体积改变的特点。方法：采用3．0T磁共振,对33例aMCI患者（aMCI组）、32例轻度AD患者（轻度AD组）及31名正常老年人（对照组）进行3DT1WI扫描,利用基于SPM5的DARTEL工具箱对扫描获得的结构图像进行预处理,再对aMCI组、轻度AD组和对照组的全脑灰质体积进行基于体素的统计学比较。结果：与对照组比较,aMCI组左侧海马、海马旁回、舌回、颞上回,双侧岛叶和颞中回等结构的灰质体积萎缩,其差异有显著统计学意义（P〈0．01,FDR corrected,K〉50体素）。轻度AD组的双侧海马、海马旁回及杏仁核、双侧丘脑、双侧颞顶叶皮质等结构灰质体积萎缩,额叶和枕叶皮质也出现灰质萎缩,其差异也有统计学意义（P〈0．05,FDR corrected,K≥50体素）。结论：基于体素的MRI形态学测量能够客观揭示AD早期阶段的脑灰质萎缩改变,对左侧海马萎缩的识别有助于AD的早期诊断。     

Cerebellar brain volume accounts for variance in cognitive performance in older adults

Introduction

Frontal lobe atrophy is implicated in patterns of age-related cognitive decline. However, other brain areas, including the cerebellum, support the work of the frontal lobes and are also sensitive to the effects of ageing. A relationship between cerebellar brain volume and cognitive function in older adults is reported, but no study has separated variance associated with cerebellar gray matter volume and cerebellar white matter volume; and no study has examined whether or not brain volume in the cerebellum is related to cognitive function in older adults after statistical control for frontal lobe volume of gray and white matter.

Method

We used voxel based morphometry (VBM) and structural equation modelling (SEM) to analyse relations between general cognitive ability (G) and volume of GM and WM in frontal areas and cerebellum in a sample of 228 older adults (121 males and 107 females).

Results

Results indicate that GM volume in the cerebellum predicts G, even when total intracranial volume (TICV) and GM gray and WM volumes in frontal lobes are statistically controlled. However, results differ for males and females, with males showing a stronger relationship between brain volume in the cerebellum and G.

Conclusions

Results are discussed in light of neurological models of cognitive ageing and the significance of the cerebellum in models of cognitive functioning.     

Effect of the BDNF Val66Met Polymorphism on Regional Gray Matter Volumes and Cognitive Function in the Chinese Population

The brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) Val66Met polymorphism is common and influences the activity-dependent secretion of BDNF, which is critical for neuronal plasticity and survival. This study investigated the genetic effect of the BDNF Val66Met polymorphism on cognitive function and regional gray matter (GM) volume in a healthy Chinese population (n = 330). Voxel-based morphometry (VBM)-optimized analysis was used. There was no significant difference in the neuropsychological performances among the three BDNF genotypic groups. VBM analyses demonstrated that Met homozygotes had greater GM volumes than Val homozygotes in the left medial frontal gyrus, the left middle temporal gyrus, the left cerebellum, and the right middle temporal gyrus, and had larger GM volumes than Val/Met heterozygotes in the left middle temporal gyrus, the left inferior temporal gyrus, and the right superior frontal gyrus. Our findings suggest that the presence of two Met alleles has a protective effect on regional GM volumes in the Chinese population.     

Middle and inferior temporal gyrus gray matter volume abnormalities in first-episode schizophrenia: an MRI study

OBJECTIVE: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies of schizophrenia reveal temporal lobe structural brain abnormalities in the superior temporal gyrus and the amygdala-hippocampal complex. However, the middle and inferior temporal gyri have received little investigation, especially in first-episode schizophrenia. METHOD: High-spatial-resolution MRI was used to measure gray matter volume in the inferior, middle, and superior temporal gyri in 20 patients with first-episode schizophrenia, 20 patients with first-episode affective psychosis, and 23 healthy comparison subjects. RESULTS: Gray matter volume in the middle temporal gyrus was smaller bilaterally in patients with first-episode schizophrenia than in comparison subjects and in patients with first-episode affective psychosis. Posterior gray matter volume in the inferior temporal gyrus was smaller bilaterally in both patient groups than in comparison subjects. Among the superior, middle, and inferior temporal gyri, the left posterior superior temporal gyrus gray matter in the schizophrenia group had the smallest volume, the greatest percentage difference, and the largest effect size in comparisons with healthy comparison subjects and with affective psychosis patients. CONCLUSIONS: Smaller gray matter volumes in the left and right middle temporal gyri and left posterior superior temporal gyrus were present in schizophrenia but not in affective psychosis at first hospitalization. In contrast, smaller bilateral posterior inferior temporal gyrus gray matter volume is present in both schizophrenia and affective psychosis at first hospitalization. These findings suggest that smaller gray matter volumes in the dorsal temporal lobe (superior and middle temporal gyri) may be specific to schizophrenia, whereas smaller posterior inferior temporal gyrus gray matter volumes may be related to pathology common to both schizophrenia and affective psychosis.     

Regional change in brain morphometry in schizophrenia associated with antipsychotic treatment

The purpose of this pilot study was to: (1) determine if regional brain volume change occurs in schizophrenia patients during very short periods of withdrawal from, or stable treatment with, antipsychotics, and; (2) compare results of region-of-interest (ROI) to voxel-based morphometry (VBM) methods. In two small groups of schizophrenic inpatients, magnetic resonance imaging was performed before and after antipsychotic withdrawal, and at two time points during stable chronic antipsychotic treatment. Regional brain volumes were measured using ROI methods. Grey matter volume was measured with VBM. The medication withdrawal group showed no effect of treatment state or antipsychotic type on regional brain volumes with ROI analysis, but effects of both treatment state and antipsychotic type on grey matter volume were observed with VBM in right middle frontal, right medial frontal, right and left superior frontal, right cingulate, and right superior temporal gyrii as well as in the right and left hippocampal gyrii. The chronic stable treatment group showed an effect of time on right caudate, left hippocampal, and total cerebrospinal fluid volumes with ROI analysis, while effects of both time and antipsychotic type were observed with VBM on grey matter volume in the left superior temporal lobe. No findings survived correction for multiple comparisons. A positive correlation between regional volume change and emerging psychopathology was demonstrated using ROI methods in the medication withdrawal group. Treatment state and emergent symptoms in schizophrenia patients were associated with regional volume change over very short time periods. Longitudinal regional brain volume change in schizophrenia patients is likely physiologic and therefore potentially reversible.     

Regional change in brain morphometry in schizophrenia associated with antipsychotic treatment

The purpose of this pilot study was to: (1) determine if regional brain volume change occurs in schizophrenia patients during very short periods of withdrawal from, or stable treatment with, antipsychotics, and; (2) compare results of region-of-interest (ROI) to voxel-based morphometry (VBM) methods. In two small groups of schizophrenic inpatients, magnetic resonance imaging was performed before and after antipsychotic withdrawal, and at two time points during stable chronic antipsychotic treatment. Regional brain volumes were measured using ROI methods. Grey matter volume was measured with VBM. The medication withdrawal group showed no effect of treatment state or antipsychotic type on regional brain volumes with ROI analysis, but effects of both treatment state and antipsychotic type on grey matter volume were observed with VBM in right middle frontal, right medial frontal, right and left superior frontal, right cingulate, and right superior temporal gyrii as well as in the right and left hippocampal gyrii. The chronic stable treatment group showed an effect of time on right caudate, left hippocampal, and total cerebrospinal fluid volumes with ROI analysis, while effects of both time and antipsychotic type were observed with VBM on grey matter volume in the left superior temporal lobe. No findings survived correction for multiple comparisons. A positive correlation between regional volume change and emerging psychopathology was demonstrated using ROI methods in the medication withdrawal group. Treatment state and emergent symptoms in schizophrenia patients were associated with regional volume change over very short time periods. Longitudinal regional brain volume change in schizophrenia patients is likely physiologic and therefore potentially reversible.     

Neuroanatomy of vulnerability to psychosis: a voxel-based meta-analysis

Background

Individual structural imaging studies in the pre-psychotic phases deliver contrasting findings and are unable to definitively characterize the neuroanatomical correlates of an increased liability to psychosis and to predict transition to psychosis.

Method

Ninenteen voxel-based morphometry (VBM) studies of subjects at enhanced risk for psychosis and healthy controls were included in an activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis.

Results

The overall sample consisted of 701 controls and 896 high risk subjects. Subjects at high risk for psychosis showed reduced gray matter (GM) volume as compared to controls in the right superior temporal gyrus, left precuneus, left medial frontal gyrus, right middle frontal gyrus, bilateral parahippocampal/hippocampal regions and bilateral anterior cingulate. High risk subjects who later developed a psychotic episode showed baseline GM volume reductions in the right inferior frontal gyrus and in the right superior temporal gyrus.

Conclusions

GM volume reductions in temporo-parietal, bilateral prefrontal and limbic cortex are neuroanatomical correlates of an enhanced vulnerability to psychosis. Baseline GM reductions in superior temporal and inferior frontal areas are associated with later transition to psychosis.     

Neuro-cognitive foundations of word stress processing - evidence from fMRI

Background

To date, the neural correlates of phonological word stress processing are largely unknown.

Methods

In the present study, we investigated the processing of word stress and vowel quality using an identity matching task with pseudowords.

Results

In line with previous studies, a bilateral fronto-temporal network comprising the superior temporal gyri extending into the sulci as well as the inferior frontal gyri was observed for word stress processing. Moreover, we found differences in the superior temporal gyrus and the superior temporal sulcus, bilaterally, for the processing of different stress patterns. For vowel quality processing, our data reveal a substantial contribution of the left intraparietal cortex. All activations were modulated by task demands, yielding different patterns for same and different pairs of stimuli.

Conclusions

Our results suggest that the left superior temporal gyrus represents a basic system underlying stress processing to which additional structures including the homologous cortex site are recruited with increasing difficulty.