- Email: [email protected]
Poster #S52 DOES SEASON OF BIRTH INFLUENCE CORTICAL THICKNESS CORRELATES OF PSYCHOTIC EXPERIENCES? A GENETICALLY INFORMATIVE MRI STUDY
Abstracts of the 4th Biennial Schizophrenia International Research Conference / Schizophrenia Research 153, Supplement 1 (2014) S1–S384
tivity dependent neuronal/synaptic plasticity. Our second finding is likely to indicate increased energy demand and elevated activation of fast glycolysis to compensate for increased energy demand in case of activated membrane turnover.
Poster #S51 SUICIDALITY AND CORTICAL STRUCTURE IN SCHIZOPHRENIA - EFFECTS ON CORTICAL THICKNESS AND FOLDING Bianca Besteher 1 , Claudia Schachtzabel 1 , Gerd Wagner 2 , Jürgen Reichenbach 3 , Ralf Schlösser 1 , Heinrich Sauer 2 , C.Christoph Schultz 1 1 Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Jena University Hospital, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Jena, Germany; 2 Jena University Hospital; 3 Medical Physics Group, Institute for Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Jena, Germany Background: Schizophrenia is characterized by a dramatically increased mortality leading to an earlier age of death of about ten years compared with the general population. Suicidality is the major determinant of this highly increased mortality. Thus, exploring the neuronal foundations of suicidality is essential for a better understanding, recognizing and prevention of suicidal behaviour in schizophrenia. Recent studies focused on grey matter volume differences between suicide-attempters and non-attempters in schizophrenia. However, an analysis of the cortex structure in terms of cortical thickness and folding in order to further elucidate the neuroanatomical correlates of suicidality in schizophrenia has yet not been performed. Thus, in the present study we sought to identify relevant brain regions with differences in cortical thickness and folding between patients with suicide-attempts, patients without any suicidal thoughts (neither active nor passive) and healthy controls with a fine grained surface-based MRI method. Methods: A group of 37 patients with schizophrenia according to DSMIV, therefrom 14 suicide-attempters and 23 non-suicidal, and 50 ageand gender-matched healthy controls were included. Suicidality was documented through clinical interview and chart review. All participants underwent high-resolution T1-weighted MRI scans (1.5-T). Whole brain node-by-node cortical thickness and folding were estimated (FreeSurfer Software) and compared between the three groups. Results: Significant (p<0.05, corrected) cortical thinning in patients with suicide attempts compared with non-suicidal patients in the right superior and middle temporal, temporopolar and insular cortex was found. Additionally, patients with suicide attempts showed reduced cortical thickness in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (p<0.001, uncorrected). No significant differences were found for cortical folding. Discussion: Our findings provide new evidence for potential neuroanatomical underpinnings of suicidality in schizophrenia. The affected regions of cortical thinning in suicide attempters are strongly involved in cortical networks relevant for the regulation of impulsivity, emotions and planning of behaviour. Thus, anatomical alterations in these regions are highly suggestive to be of impact for suicidal behaviour in schizophrenia. Further studies in larger samples are needed to consolidate these initial findings.
Poster #S52 DOES SEASON OF BIRTH INFLUENCE CORTICAL THICKNESS CORRELATES OF PSYCHOTIC EXPERIENCES? A GENETICALLY INFORMATIVE MRI STUDY Aldo Córdova-Palomera 1 , Silvia Alemany 2,3 , Carles Falcón 4 , Nuria Bargalló 5 , Ximena Goldberg 2 , Benedicto Crespo-Facorro 6 , Igor Nenadic 7 , Lourdes Fañanás 8 1 University of Barcelona; 2 University of Barcelona; Centro de Investigaciones Biomédicas en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM), Instituto de Salud Carlos III; 3 Centro de Investigaciones Biomédicas en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM); 4 University of Barcelona; Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red en Bioingeniería, Biomedicina y Nanomedicina (CIBER-BBN); 5 Medical Image core facility, the Institut d’Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS); 6 Centro de Investigaciones Biomédicas en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM); University of Cantabria; IFIMAV; 7 Jena University Hospital; 8 Dept. Biologia Animal, Facultat de Biologia, Universitat de Barcelona. IBUB.CIBERSAM Background: Risk for several neuropsychiatric diseases is influenced by
S107
season of birth (Davies, Welham, Chant, Torrey, & McGrath, 2003; Disanto et al., 2012). Besides, it has been suggested that season of birth modifies brain morphology (Pantazatos, 2013). As cortical thickness alterations have been reported across some levels of the psychosis-spectrum (Goldman et al., 2009), this study was aimed at i) evaluating the scarcely explored relationship between cortical thickness and severity of subclinical psychotic experiences (PEs) in healthy subjects, and ii) estimating the potential impact of season of birth in the previous thickness-PEs relationship. Since both PEs and brain cortical features are heritable (Lataster et al., 2009; Panizzon et al., 2009), the current work used monozygotic twins to separately evaluate familial and unique environmental factors. Methods: High-resolution structural MRI scans of 48 twins were analyzed to estimate cortical thickness using FreeSurfer. They were then examined in relation to PEs, accounting for the effects of birth season; putative differential relationships between PEs and cortical thickness depending on season of birth were also tested. Results: Increases in the familial component (genes plus shared environment) of negative PEs was associated with cortical thickening in specific regions of both hemispheres. Furthermore, relationships between cortical thickness and the familial component of both negative and depressive PEs were different depending on season of birth: in some brain regions, individuals born during winter/spring showed cortical thickening associated with higher scores in either depressive or negative PEs, while the thickness-PEs association was in the opposite direction in subjects born during the rest of the year. Discussion: The present results support previous findings indicative of cortical thickening in healthy individuals with high psychometrically assessed psychosis scores (Kuhn et al., 2012), probably in line with theories of compensatory aspects of brain features in non-clinical populations. Additionally, they suggest distinct patterns of cortical thickness-PEs relationships depending on birth seasonality. Familial factors underlying the presence of PEs may drive all these effects. Supported by EUTwinsS MRTN-CT-2006-035987, SAF2008-05674-C03 and 2009SGR827. References: [1] Davies, G., et al. (2003). A systematic review and meta-analysis of northern hemisphere season of birth studies in schizophrenia. Schizophr Bull, 29(3), 587-593. [2] Disanto, G., et al. (2012). Seasonal distribution of psychiatric births in england. PLoS One, 7(4), e34866. [3] Goldman, A.L., et al. (2009). Widespread reductions of cortical thickness in schizophrenia and spectrum disorders and evidence of heritability. Arch Gen Psychiatry, 66(5), 467-477. [4] Kuhn, S., et al. (2012). Higher prefrontal cortical thickness in high schizotypal personality trait. J Psychiatr Res 46, 960-965. [5] Lataster, T., et al. (2009). Evidence that self-reported psychotic experiences represent the transitory developmental expression of genetic liability to psychosis in the general population. Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet 150B, 1078-1084. [6] Panizzon, M.S., et al. (2009). Distinct genetic influences on cortical surface area and cortical thickness. Cereb Cortex 19, 2728-2735. Pantazatos, S.P. (2013). Prediction of individual season of birth using MRI. Neuroimage.
Poster #S53 MEDIAL FRONTAL GYRUS ALTERATIONS IN SCHIZOPHRENIA: RELATIONSHIP WITH DURATION OF ILLNESS AND EXECUTIVE DYSFUNCTION Marianna Frascarelli 1 , Stefania Tognin 2 , Alessia Mirigliani 1 , Fabrizio Parente 3 , Buzzanca Antonino 4 , Maria Chiara Torti 1 , Caramia Francesca 4 , Fabio Di Fabio 1 , Massimo Biondi 1 , Paolo Fusar-Poli 4 1 Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, Sapienza - University of Rome, Italy; 2 Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London; 3 c. SAIMLAL, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy; 4 Department of Psychosis Studies, Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, London, UK Background: Gray matter alterations are thought to underlie schizophrenia clinical expression, especially cognitive dysfunction. One of the most widely neuropsychological instruments used to assess executive functioning is the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). Performance in the WCST is particularly impaired in schizophrenic patients (SCZ) and it is associated with reduced gray matter volume in prefrontal areas. Among other variables influencing progressive brain changes in schizophrenia, duration of illness (DoI) is well known to play a significant role. Our aim was to test the impact of executive functioning and illness duration on prefrontal regions in SCZ.
tivity dependent neuronal/synaptic plasticity. Our second finding is likely to indicate increased energy demand and elevated activation of fast glycolysis to compensate for increased energy demand in case of activated membrane turnover.
Poster #S51 SUICIDALITY AND CORTICAL STRUCTURE IN SCHIZOPHRENIA - EFFECTS ON CORTICAL THICKNESS AND FOLDING Bianca Besteher 1 , Claudia Schachtzabel 1 , Gerd Wagner 2 , Jürgen Reichenbach 3 , Ralf Schlösser 1 , Heinrich Sauer 2 , C.Christoph Schultz 1 1 Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Jena University Hospital, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Jena, Germany; 2 Jena University Hospital; 3 Medical Physics Group, Institute for Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Jena, Germany Background: Schizophrenia is characterized by a dramatically increased mortality leading to an earlier age of death of about ten years compared with the general population. Suicidality is the major determinant of this highly increased mortality. Thus, exploring the neuronal foundations of suicidality is essential for a better understanding, recognizing and prevention of suicidal behaviour in schizophrenia. Recent studies focused on grey matter volume differences between suicide-attempters and non-attempters in schizophrenia. However, an analysis of the cortex structure in terms of cortical thickness and folding in order to further elucidate the neuroanatomical correlates of suicidality in schizophrenia has yet not been performed. Thus, in the present study we sought to identify relevant brain regions with differences in cortical thickness and folding between patients with suicide-attempts, patients without any suicidal thoughts (neither active nor passive) and healthy controls with a fine grained surface-based MRI method. Methods: A group of 37 patients with schizophrenia according to DSMIV, therefrom 14 suicide-attempters and 23 non-suicidal, and 50 ageand gender-matched healthy controls were included. Suicidality was documented through clinical interview and chart review. All participants underwent high-resolution T1-weighted MRI scans (1.5-T). Whole brain node-by-node cortical thickness and folding were estimated (FreeSurfer Software) and compared between the three groups. Results: Significant (p<0.05, corrected) cortical thinning in patients with suicide attempts compared with non-suicidal patients in the right superior and middle temporal, temporopolar and insular cortex was found. Additionally, patients with suicide attempts showed reduced cortical thickness in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (p<0.001, uncorrected). No significant differences were found for cortical folding. Discussion: Our findings provide new evidence for potential neuroanatomical underpinnings of suicidality in schizophrenia. The affected regions of cortical thinning in suicide attempters are strongly involved in cortical networks relevant for the regulation of impulsivity, emotions and planning of behaviour. Thus, anatomical alterations in these regions are highly suggestive to be of impact for suicidal behaviour in schizophrenia. Further studies in larger samples are needed to consolidate these initial findings.
Poster #S52 DOES SEASON OF BIRTH INFLUENCE CORTICAL THICKNESS CORRELATES OF PSYCHOTIC EXPERIENCES? A GENETICALLY INFORMATIVE MRI STUDY Aldo Córdova-Palomera 1 , Silvia Alemany 2,3 , Carles Falcón 4 , Nuria Bargalló 5 , Ximena Goldberg 2 , Benedicto Crespo-Facorro 6 , Igor Nenadic 7 , Lourdes Fañanás 8 1 University of Barcelona; 2 University of Barcelona; Centro de Investigaciones Biomédicas en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM), Instituto de Salud Carlos III; 3 Centro de Investigaciones Biomédicas en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM); 4 University of Barcelona; Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red en Bioingeniería, Biomedicina y Nanomedicina (CIBER-BBN); 5 Medical Image core facility, the Institut d’Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS); 6 Centro de Investigaciones Biomédicas en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM); University of Cantabria; IFIMAV; 7 Jena University Hospital; 8 Dept. Biologia Animal, Facultat de Biologia, Universitat de Barcelona. IBUB.CIBERSAM Background: Risk for several neuropsychiatric diseases is influenced by
S107
season of birth (Davies, Welham, Chant, Torrey, & McGrath, 2003; Disanto et al., 2012). Besides, it has been suggested that season of birth modifies brain morphology (Pantazatos, 2013). As cortical thickness alterations have been reported across some levels of the psychosis-spectrum (Goldman et al., 2009), this study was aimed at i) evaluating the scarcely explored relationship between cortical thickness and severity of subclinical psychotic experiences (PEs) in healthy subjects, and ii) estimating the potential impact of season of birth in the previous thickness-PEs relationship. Since both PEs and brain cortical features are heritable (Lataster et al., 2009; Panizzon et al., 2009), the current work used monozygotic twins to separately evaluate familial and unique environmental factors. Methods: High-resolution structural MRI scans of 48 twins were analyzed to estimate cortical thickness using FreeSurfer. They were then examined in relation to PEs, accounting for the effects of birth season; putative differential relationships between PEs and cortical thickness depending on season of birth were also tested. Results: Increases in the familial component (genes plus shared environment) of negative PEs was associated with cortical thickening in specific regions of both hemispheres. Furthermore, relationships between cortical thickness and the familial component of both negative and depressive PEs were different depending on season of birth: in some brain regions, individuals born during winter/spring showed cortical thickening associated with higher scores in either depressive or negative PEs, while the thickness-PEs association was in the opposite direction in subjects born during the rest of the year. Discussion: The present results support previous findings indicative of cortical thickening in healthy individuals with high psychometrically assessed psychosis scores (Kuhn et al., 2012), probably in line with theories of compensatory aspects of brain features in non-clinical populations. Additionally, they suggest distinct patterns of cortical thickness-PEs relationships depending on birth seasonality. Familial factors underlying the presence of PEs may drive all these effects. Supported by EUTwinsS MRTN-CT-2006-035987, SAF2008-05674-C03 and 2009SGR827. References: [1] Davies, G., et al. (2003). A systematic review and meta-analysis of northern hemisphere season of birth studies in schizophrenia. Schizophr Bull, 29(3), 587-593. [2] Disanto, G., et al. (2012). Seasonal distribution of psychiatric births in england. PLoS One, 7(4), e34866. [3] Goldman, A.L., et al. (2009). Widespread reductions of cortical thickness in schizophrenia and spectrum disorders and evidence of heritability. Arch Gen Psychiatry, 66(5), 467-477. [4] Kuhn, S., et al. (2012). Higher prefrontal cortical thickness in high schizotypal personality trait. J Psychiatr Res 46, 960-965. [5] Lataster, T., et al. (2009). Evidence that self-reported psychotic experiences represent the transitory developmental expression of genetic liability to psychosis in the general population. Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet 150B, 1078-1084. [6] Panizzon, M.S., et al. (2009). Distinct genetic influences on cortical surface area and cortical thickness. Cereb Cortex 19, 2728-2735. Pantazatos, S.P. (2013). Prediction of individual season of birth using MRI. Neuroimage.
Poster #S53 MEDIAL FRONTAL GYRUS ALTERATIONS IN SCHIZOPHRENIA: RELATIONSHIP WITH DURATION OF ILLNESS AND EXECUTIVE DYSFUNCTION Marianna Frascarelli 1 , Stefania Tognin 2 , Alessia Mirigliani 1 , Fabrizio Parente 3 , Buzzanca Antonino 4 , Maria Chiara Torti 1 , Caramia Francesca 4 , Fabio Di Fabio 1 , Massimo Biondi 1 , Paolo Fusar-Poli 4 1 Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, Sapienza - University of Rome, Italy; 2 Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London; 3 c. SAIMLAL, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy; 4 Department of Psychosis Studies, Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, London, UK Background: Gray matter alterations are thought to underlie schizophrenia clinical expression, especially cognitive dysfunction. One of the most widely neuropsychological instruments used to assess executive functioning is the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). Performance in the WCST is particularly impaired in schizophrenic patients (SCZ) and it is associated with reduced gray matter volume in prefrontal areas. Among other variables influencing progressive brain changes in schizophrenia, duration of illness (DoI) is well known to play a significant role. Our aim was to test the impact of executive functioning and illness duration on prefrontal regions in SCZ.