Reduced cortical thickness in schizophrenia and schizotypal disorder
Poster B37, Tuesday, October%209, 11:30%20am%20-%201:00%20pm, Essex%20Ballroom
Yoichiro Takayanagi1, Daiki Sasabayashi1, Tsutomu Takahashi1, Atsushi Furuichi1, Mikio Kido1, Yumiko Nishikawa1, Mihoko Nakamura1, Kyo Noguchi2, Michio Suzuki1; 1Department Neuropsychiatry, University of Toyama Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, 2Department of Radiology, University of Toyama Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences
Background: Schizotypal disorder is characterized by odd behavior and attenuated forms of schizophrenic features without the manifestation of an overt and sustained psychosis. Past studies suggest that schizotypal disorder may share biological and psychological commonalties with schizophrenia. Few studies have compared cortical thickness, which is thought to be a specific indicator of cortical atrophy, between schizophrenia and schizotypal disorder. Methods: Subjects consisted of 102 schizophrenia and 46 schizotypal disorder patients who met the ICD-10 criteria, and 79 gender- and age-matched healthy controls. Each participant underwent a T1-weighted 3-D MRI scan using a 1.5-T scanner. Cortical thickness was estimated using FreeSurfer. A general linear model adjusting for age and gender was used to estimate the group differences of cortical thickness in each vertex. A Monte Carlo simulation was used to correct for multiple comparisons. Results: Consistent with previous studies, schizophrenia patients exhibited wide-spread cortical thinning predominantly in frontal and temporal regions compared with healthy subjects. Patients with schizotypal disorder had significantly reduced cortical thickness in the left parahippocampal gyrus, right medial superior frontal gyrus, right inferior frontal gyrus, and right medial orbitofrontal cortex relative to healthy controls. Schizophrenia patients had thinner cortices in the left superior frontal and precentral gyri than those with schizotypal disorder. Conclusions: Common cortical thinning patterns seen in schizophrenia and schizotypal disorder patients might be associated with vulnerability to psychosis. Our results also suggest that wide-spread cortical thinning in frontal and temporal regions may be related to the manifestation of psychotic symptoms.
Topic Area: Neuroimaging