Decreased gray matter volume (GMV) in the superior temporal gyrus (STG) has been implicated in the neurophysiology of schizophrenia. However, it remains unclear whether volumetric reduction in the subregions of the STG can predict treatment efficacy for schizophrenia. Our cohort included 44 drug-naive, first-episode patients, 42 unaffected siblings and 44 healthy controls. Voxel-based morphometry and pattern classification were utilized to analyze the acquired imaging data as per the anatomical subdivision by a well-defined brainnetome atlas. The patients presented lower GMV values in left TE1.0/1.2 (TE, anterior temporal visual association area) than the siblings, and lower GMV values in the left/right TE1.0/1.2 and left A22r (rostral area 22) than the controls. A positive correlation is observed between the GMV values in the right A38l (lateral area 38) and baseline Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) total scores in the patients. Support vector regression (SVR) results exhibited a significant association between predicted (based on the GMV values in the right A38l) and actual symptomatic improvement based on the reduction ratio of the PANSS total scores (r = 0.498, p = 0.001). Our results suggest that normal structure in the right A38l of the STG may be an important factor indicative of the effects of antipsychotic drugs, which can be potentially used to monitor drug effects for first-episode patients at an early stage in clinical practice.
Decreased insular volume may be one of the anatomical alterations caused by schizophrenia. The possibility of region‐specific insular volumetric reduction as an endophenotype and/or a possible treatment predictor is a critical issue with great implications for the diagnosis and prognosis of the disease. The sample of the current study comprised 44 drug‐naive and first‐episode patients, 42 unaffected siblings, and 44 healthy controls. A computational anatomy toolbox (CAT12) was applied to analyze the structural images with a fine‐grained, cross‐validated brainnetome atlas. Correlation analysis and support vector regression (SVR) were used to determine the relationship between insular deficits and symptomatic severity among patients. The gray matter volume (GMV) values in the left hypergranular insula (G) exhibited the following pattern: patients < siblings < controls. GMV values in the right ventral agranular insula (vIa) and baseline Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale negative symptoms subscale scores among patients showed a positive correlation (r = 0.384, p = .010). Further SVR analysis exhibited a significantly positive correlation between GMV values in the right vIa and negative symptomatic improvement among patients (r = 0.537, p < .001). Results suggested the presence of region‐specific insular volumetric decreases in first‐episode schizophrenia. Thus, volumetric decrease in left G might be a potential endophenotype for schizophrenia, and GMV values in right vIa might be used to predict negative symptomatic improvement in schizophrenia. 相似文献