Increased frontal gray matter volume in individuals with prodromal psychosis

• Published in: CNS neuroscience & therapeutics Vol. 25; no. 9; pp. 987 - 994
• Main Authors: Shan, Xiao‐Xiao, Ou, Yang‐Pan, Pan, Pan, Ding, Yu‐Dan, Zhao, Jin, Liu, Feng, Chen, Jin‐Dong, Guo, Wen‐Bin, Zhao, Jing‐Ping
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.09.2019; John Wiley and Sons Inc
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Brain - diagnostic imaging; Cognitive ability; cognitive function; Cross-Sectional Studies; Female; Frontal gyrus; Gray Matter - diagnostic imaging; gray matter volume; Humans; Magnetic resonance imaging; Male; Mental disorders; Neuroimaging; Organ Size; Original; prodromal psychosis; Prodromal Symptoms; Psychosis; Psychotic Disorders - diagnostic imaging; Psychotic Disorders - epidemiology; Psychotic Disorders - psychology; Schizophrenia; Substantia grisea; support vector machine; Young Adult; cognitive function; prodromal psychosis; gray matter volume; magnetic resonance imaging; support vector machine
• ISSN: 1755-5930; 1755-5949; 1755-5949
• DOI: 10.1111/cns.13143

Background Brain anatomical deficits associated with cognitive dysfunction have been reported in patients with schizophrenia. However, it remains unknown whether such anatomical deficits exist in individuals with prodromal psychosis. The present study is designed to investigate anatomical deficits in prodromal individuals and their associations with clinical/cognitive features. Methods Seventy‐four prodromal individuals and seventy‐six healthy controls were scanned using structural magnetic resonance imaging. Support vector machines were applied to test whether anatomical deficits might be used to discriminate prodromal individuals from healthy controls. Results Prodromal individuals showed significantly increased gray matter volume (GMV) in the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and right rectus gyrus relative to healthy controls. No correlations were observed between increased GMV and clinical/cognitive characteristics. The combination of increased GMV in the right rectus gyrus and right IFG showed a sensitivity of 74.32%, a specificity of 67.11%, and an accuracy of 70.67% in differentiating prodromal individuals from healthy controls. Conclusion Our results provide evidence of increased frontal GMV in prodromal individuals. A combination of GMV values in the two frontal brain areas may serve as potential markers to discriminate prodromal individuals from healthy controls. The results thus highlight the importance of the frontal regions in the pathophysiology of psychosis.