Larger amygdala volume in first-degree relatives of patients with major depression.
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SUBMITTER: Romanczuk-Seiferth N
PROVIDER: S-EPMC4081974 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:Healthy first-degree relatives of patients with major depression are at an elevated risk of developing depression, and regional cerebral blood flow (CBF) alterations are observed in patients with depression. Therefore, in a 33-month follow-up study, we used arterial spin labeling-magnetic resonance imaging (ASL-MRI) to investigate quantitative CBF before and after the diagnosis of depression in healthy young adults with and without first-degree relatives with major depression (FH + and FH-, respectively). In cross-sectional and longitudinal CBF comparisons, CBF in the right amygdala was increased or decreased. Additionally, a significant correlation was observed between the altered CBF in the right amygdala and the scores on the 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) in the FH + group. Furthermore, logistic regression and receiver operating characteristic curve analyses showed that increased CBF in the right amygdala at baseline predicted the subsequent onset of depression in the FH + group. Our results suggest that among healthy young adults with a familial risk of depression, those who exhibit increased CBF in the amygdala are susceptible to developing this disease.
| S-EPMC6928554 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundShared neuropathological features between schizophrenic patients and their first-degree relatives have potential as indicators of genetic vulnerability to schizophrenia. We sought to explore genetic influences on brain morphology and function in schizophrenic patients and their relatives.MethodsUsing a multimodal imaging strategy, we studied 33 schizophrenic patients, 55 of their unaffected parents, 30 healthy controls for patients, and 29 healthy controls for parents with voxel-based morphometry of structural MRI scans and functional connectivity analysis of resting-state functional MRI data.ResultsSchizophrenic patients showed widespread gray matter reductions in the bilateral frontal cortices, bilateral insulae, bilateral occipital cortices, left amygdala and right thalamus, whereas their parents showed more localized reductions in the left amygdala, left thalamus and right orbitofrontal cortex. Patients and their parents shared gray matter loss in the left amygdala. Further investigation of the resting-state functional connectivity of the amygdala in the patients showed abnormal functional connectivity with the bilateral orbitofrontal cortices, bilateral precunei, bilateral dorsolateral frontal cortices and right insula. Their parents showed slightly less, but similar changes in the pattern in the amygdala connectivity. Co-occurrences of abnormal connectivity of the left amygdala with the left orbitofrontal cortex, right dorsolateral frontal cortex and right precuneus were observed in schizophrenic patients and their parents.ConclusionsOur findings suggest a potential genetic influence on structural and functional abnormalities of the amygdala in schizophrenia. Such information could help future efforts to identify the endophenotypes that characterize the complex disorder of schizophrenia.
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Project description:OBJECTIVE:Pancreas size is reduced in patients at type 1 diabetes onset and in autoantibody (AAB)-positive donors without diabetes. We sought to determine whether pancreas volume (PV) imaging could improve understanding of the loss of pancreas size in first-degree relatives (FDRs) of patients with type 1 diabetes. We also examined relationships among PV, AAB status, and endocrine and exocrine functions. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS:We conducted a cross-sectional study that included five groups: AAB- control subjects (no diabetes and no first- or second-degree relatives with type 1 diabetes) (N = 49), AAB- FDRs (N = 61), AAB+ FDRs (N = 67 total: n = 31 with a single positive AAB [AAB+ single] and n = 36 with multiple positive AABs [AAB+ multiple]), and patients with recent-onset type 1 diabetes (<1 year) (N = 52). Fasting subjects underwent 1.5T pancreatic MRI, and PV and relative PV (RPV) (PV-to-BMI ratio) were analyzed between groups and for correlations with HbA1c, C-peptide, glucose, and trypsinogen. RESULTS:All FDR groups had significantly lower RPV adjusted for BMI (RPVBMI) than control subjects (all P < 0.05). Patients with type 1 diabetes had lower RPVBMI than AAB- FDR (P < 0.0001) and AAB+ multiple (P ≤ 0.013) subjects. Transformed data indicated that trypsinogen levels were lowest in patients with type 1 diabetes. CONCLUSIONS:This study demonstrates, for the first time, all FDRs having significantly smaller RPVBMI compared with AAB- control subjects. Furthermore, RPVBMI was significantly lower in patients with recent-onset type 1 diabetes than in the AAB- FDR and AAB+ multiple groups. As such, RPVBMI may be a novel noninvasive biomarker for predicting progression through stages of type 1 diabetes risk. This study highlights the potential paracrine relationships between the exocrine and endocrine pancreas in progression to type 1 diabetes in subjects at risk.
| S-EPMC6341284 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Previous research examining the amygdala volumes in major depressive disorder (MDD) has found conflicting evidence for association. Furthermore, few of these studies have examined differences in individuals with an onset during childhood or adolescence. This study examined amygdala volume and its potential association with early onset major depression.A community-based sample of 47 right-handed young adult female monozygotic and dizygotic twin pairs was examined. For 29 twin pairs, one twin per pair had a lifetime history of MDD, while 18 age-matched control twin pairs had no lifetime history of MDD or other Axis I disorder. Core, noncore, and total amygdala volumes were estimated based on a combination of manual tracing, automated segmentation, and expert rater regional boundary definitions.No significant differences were found in amygdala volumes between depressed, high-risk, or control subjects. However, analyses comparing control monozygotic twins to randomly created control subject pairs suggest that there are familial, perhaps genetic, influences on core and total amygdala volumes.Findings suggest that although there were no significant differences in amygdala volumes between groups, familial factors influence amygdala volumes. Discrepancies between studies measuring amygdala volume in MDD may be due to differences in amygdala boundary definitions.
| S-EPMC2904677 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Impaired emotion processing in schizophrenia predicts broader social dysfunction and has been related to negative symptom severity and amygdala dysfunction. Pharmacological modulation of emotion-processing deficits and related neural abnormalities may provide useful phenotypes for pathophysiological investigation.We used an acute benzodiazepine challenge to identify and modulate potential emotion-processing abnormalities in 20 unaffected first-degree relatives of individuals with schizophrenia, compared to 25 control subjects without a family history of psychosis.An oral 1 mg dose of the short-acting anxiolytic benzodiazepine alprazolam was administered in a balanced crossover placebo-controlled double-blind design, preceding identical 3 T fMRI sessions approximately 1 week apart. Primary outcomes included fMRI activity in amygdala and related regions during two facial emotion-processing tasks: emotion identification and emotion memory.Family members exhibited abnormally strong alprazolam-induced reduction in amygdala and hippocampus activation during emotion identification, compared to equal reduction in both groups for the emotion memory task.GABAergic modulation with alprazolam produced differential responses in family members vs. controls, perhaps by unmasking underlying amygdalar and/or GABAergic abnormalities. Such pharmacological fMRI paradigms could prove useful for developing drugs targeting specific neural circuits to treat or prevent schizophrenia.
| S-EPMC3962022 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BACKGROUND:The genetic etiology of schizophrenia (SCZ) overlaps with that of other major psychiatric disorders in samples of European ancestry. The present study investigated transethnic polygenetic features shared between Japanese SCZ or their unaffected first-degree relatives and European patients with major psychiatric disorders by conducting polygenic risk score (PRS) analyses. METHODS:To calculate PRSs for 5 psychiatric disorders (SCZ, bipolar disorder [BIP], major depressive disorder, autism spectrum disorder, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) and PRSs differentiating SCZ from BIP, we utilized large-scale European genome-wide association study (GWAS) datasets as discovery samples. PRSs derived from these GWASs were calculated for 335 Japanese target participants [SCZ patients, FRs, and healthy controls (HCs)]. We took these PRSs based on GWASs of European psychiatric disorders and investigated their effect on risk in Japanese SCZ patients and unaffected first-degree relatives. RESULTS:The PRSs obtained from European SCZ and BIP patients were higher in Japanese SCZ patients than in HCs. Furthermore, PRSs differentiating SCZ patients from European BIP patients were higher in Japanese SCZ patients than in HCs. Interestingly, PRSs related to European autism spectrum disorder were lower in Japanese first-degree relatives than in HCs or SCZ patients. The PRSs of autism spectrum disorder were positively correlated with a young onset age of SCZ. CONCLUSIONS:These findings suggest that polygenic factors related to European SCZ and BIP and the polygenic components differentiating SCZ from BIP can transethnically contribute to SCZ risk in Japanese people. Furthermore, we suggest that reduced levels of an ASD-related genetic factor in unaffected first-degree relatives may help protect against SCZ development.
| S-EPMC7171929 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Cognitive impairments are a core feature in schizophrenia patients (SCZ) and are also observed in first-degree relatives (FR) of SCZ. However, substantial variability in the impairments exists within and among SCZ, FR and healthy controls (HC). A cluster-analytic approach can group individuals based on profiles of traits and create more homogeneous groupings than predefined categories. Here, we investigated differences in the Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia (BACS) neuropsychological battery (six subscales) among SCZ, unaffected FR and HC. To identify three homogeneous and meaningful cognitive groups regardless of categorical diagnoses (SCZ, FR and HC), cognitive clustering was performed, and differences in the BACS subscales among the cognitive cluster groups were investigated. Finally, the effects of diagnosis and cognition on brain volumes were examined. As expected, there were significant differences in the five BACS subscales among the diagnostic groups. The cluster-analytic approach generated three meaningful subgroups: (i) neuropsychologically normal, (ii) intermediate impaired and (iii) widespread impaired. The cognitive subgroups were mainly affected by the clinical diagnosis, and significant differences in all BACS subscales among clusters were found. The effects of the diagnosis and cognitive clusters on brain volumes overlapped in the frontal, temporal and limbic regions. Frontal and temporal volumes were mainly affected by the diagnosis, whereas the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) volumes were affected by the additive effects of diagnosis and cognition. Our findings demonstrate a cognitive continuum among SCZ, FR and HC and support the concept of cognitive impairment and the related ACC volumes as intermediate phenotypes in SCZ.
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Project description:AbstracOBJECTIVES: This study aimed to preliminarily and exploratorily examine the associations between childhood trauma (CT), its subtypes, and personality traits among unaffected first-degree relatives (FDR, children, or siblings) of patients with major depressive disorder (MDD).MethodsThe study sample included three subgroups: MDD patients (N = 85), Patients' FDRs (N = 35), and healthy control individuals (HC, N = 89). The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) was used to assess childhood trauma and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire was used to assess personality traits.ResultsSignificant differences were found in a few personality traits (p < 0.05 for extraversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism) among MDD patients, FDR, and HC, and there were no significant differences between HC and FDR. In the FDR group, compared with those without CT, participants with CT scored significantly higher for neuroticism (N) (F = 3.246, p = 0.046). CT was significantly associated with N, psychoticism (P) and Lie (L), and the strongest association was between CT total score and N. Significantly positive correlations were found between N and sexual abuse (SA) (r = 0.344, p = 0.043), emotional neglect (EN) (r = 0.394, p = 0.019), physical neglect (PN) (r = 0.393, p = 0.019), and CTQ total score (r = 0.452, p = 0.006); between P and CTQ total score (r = 0.336, p = 0.049); and significant negative correlations were found between L and EN (r = -0.446, p = 0.007), CTQ total score (r = -0.375, p = 0.027).ConclusionIn unaffected FDRs, there were significant associations between childhood trauma and a few personality traits, including neuroticism, psychoticism, and lie, and emotional neglect was significantly associated with neuroticism.
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Project description:Recent studies revealed cardiac autonomic dysfunction in patients with acute schizophrenia, which appears to be mainly related to reduced vagal and increased sympathetic modulation. To understand the significance of cardiac autonomic function in patients with schizophrenia, we extended these studies to relatives of patients. In this study, we assessed cardiac autonomic modulation in healthy first-degree relatives of patients with schizophrenia (n = 36) to investigate a putative genetic influence. Data were compared with control subjects matched for age, gender, and physical activity as well as to patients suffering from schizophrenia. First-degree relatives showed an attenuated, yet identical pattern in autonomic dysfunction as patients with decreased vagal modulation of heart rate, decreased baroreflex sensitivity, but no difference in blood pressure variability could be detected. The patients' relatives also showed a similar pattern in regards to QT variability. In addition, the subgroup comparison of offspring vs. siblings showed a significant difference in heart rate variability suggesting a higher degree of heritability in offspring. In conclusion, the pattern of autonomic dysfunction seen in patients and relatives might indicate underlying disease-inherent genetic vulnerability, especially because autonomic parameters are heritable. In addition, these findings may be of value to identify the high-risk group of patients' relatives in regards to serious cardiovascular events so that early preventive measures can be taken.
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Project description:Meehl conceptualized schizotypy as the phenotypic manifestations of a neural integrative defect resulting from a schizophrenia diathesis. The majority of schizotypy studies recruited subjects from the general population and revealed a multidimensional construct. This 2-phase investigation first examined the clustering of schizotypy in 194 unaffected relatives of schizophrenia patients using the Chapman Psychosis Proneness scales and then directly compared the cognitive profiles of negative schizotypal individuals and positive schizotypal individuals with schizophrenia patients and controls. In the first phase, cluster analysis categorized 194 unaffected relatives of schizophrenia patients into positive schizotypy (n = 33), negative schizotypy (n = 66), mixed schizotypy (n = 27), and low schizotypy (n = 64). Positive schizotypal participants showed more self-report pleasure experiences than negative schizotypal participants, replicating earlier cluster analytic findings. In the second phase, 27 negative schizotypal individuals, 18 positive schizotypal individuals, 19 schizophrenia patients, and 29 controls were recruited. Although the groups were matched in terms of age, gender, and IQ, they differed significantly in cognitive profiles. While schizophrenia patients exhibited the broadest cognitive impairments, negative schizotypal participants exhibited visual memory, working memory, and verbal fluency impairments, and positive schizotypal participants exhibited logical memory, visual memory, working memory, and theory-of-mind impairments. Among people with familial risk of schizophrenia, individuals exhibiting positive rather than negative schizotypal features resembled schizophrenia patients in cognitive profiles. Using the psychometric-familial method to identify schizotypy, our findings support the heterogeneity of schizotypy as well as the potential utility of the positive schizotypy dimension in genetically high-risk individuals to predict the risk of developing schizophrenia.
| S-EPMC6188519 | biostudies-literature