Gray matter abnormalities in subjects at ultra-high risk for schizophrenia and first-episode schizophrenic patients compared to healthy controls

Witthaus, Henning; Kaufmann, Christian; Bohner, Georg; Özgürdal, Seza; Gudlowski, Yehonala; Gallinat, Jürgen; Ruhrmann, Stephan; Brüne, Martin; Heinz, Andreas; Klingebiel, Randolf; Juckel, Georg

doi:10.1016/j.pscychresns.2008.08.002

« Previous Next »Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging
Volume 173, Issue 3 , Pages 163-169, 30 September 2009

Gray matter abnormalities in subjects at ultra-high risk for schizophrenia and first-episode schizophrenic patients compared to healthy controls

Henning Witthaus
- Early Recognition and Therapy Centre for Psychoses Bochum (BoFit), Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatic Medicine, Ruhr-University of Bochum, Alexandrinenstrasse 1, 44791, Germany
Christian Kaufmann
- Department of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 12489 Berlin, Germany
Georg Bohner
- Department of Neuroradiology, Charité Campus Mitte, 10117 Berlin, Germany
Seza Özgürdal
- Early Recognition and Therapy Centre for Psychoses Bochum (BoFit), Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatic Medicine, Ruhr-University of Bochum, Alexandrinenstrasse 1, 44791, Germany
Yehonala Gudlowski
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité Campus Mitte, 10117 Berlin, Germany
Jürgen Gallinat
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité Campus Mitte, 10117 Berlin, Germany
Stephan Ruhrmann
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Cologne, 50924 Cologne, Germany
Martin Brüne
- Early Recognition and Therapy Centre for Psychoses Bochum (BoFit), Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatic Medicine, Ruhr-University of Bochum, Alexandrinenstrasse 1, 44791, Germany
Andreas Heinz
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité Campus Mitte, 10117 Berlin, Germany
Randolf Klingebiel
- Department of Neuroradiology, Charité Campus Mitte, 10117 Berlin, Germany
Georg Juckel
- Early Recognition and Therapy Centre for Psychoses Bochum (BoFit), Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatic Medicine, Ruhr-University of Bochum, Alexandrinenstrasse 1, 44791, Germany
- Corresponding author. LWL Clinic Bochum, Psychiatry – Psychotherapy – Psychosomatic Medicine – Preventive Medicine, University of Bochum, Alexandrinenstr. 1, 44791 Bochum, Germany. Tel.: +49 234 5077 201; fax: +49 234 5077 204.

Received 26 June 2007; received in revised form 2 May 2008; accepted 18 August 2008.

Abstract

Neuroimaging studies have revealed gray matter abnormalities in schizophrenia in various regions of the brain. It is, however, still unclear whether such abnormalities are already present in individuals at ultra-high risk (UHR) for transition into psychosis. We investigated this issue using voxel-based morphometry of structural magnetic resonance images (MRI) and compared UHR patients with first-episode patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls. Gray matter volume maps from high-resolution MR T1-weighted whole brain images were analyzed in a cross-sectional study in 30 UHR patients, 23 first-episode schizophrenic patients and 29 controls. UHR patients showed significantly lower gray matter volume in the cingulate gyrus bilaterally, in the right inferior frontal and right superior temporal gyrus, as well as in the left and right hippocampus in comparison to healthy subjects. First-episode patients with schizophrenia showed smaller gray matter volume in the cingulate cortex bilaterally, in the left orbitofrontal gyrus, in the right inferior frontal and superior temporal gyrus, in the right temporal pole, in the left and right hippocampus, in the left parahippocampus, left amygdala, and in the left fusiform gyrus compared to the UHR patients. This study provides further evidence that gray matter brain volume, especially in the anterior cingulate cortex, is already reduced in the prodromal state of schizophrenia.

Keywords: Prodrome, Voxel-based morphometry (VBM), Anterior cingulate cortex (ACC)