Reduced gray matter in the anterior cingulate gyrus in familial schizophrenia: A preliminary report

Costain, Gregory; Ho, Andrew; Crawley, Adrian P.; Mikulis, David J.; Brzustowicz, Linda M.; Chow, Eva W.C.; Bassett, Anne S.

doi:10.1016/j.schres.2010.06.014

« Previous Next »Schizophrenia Research
Volume 122, Issue 1 , Pages 81-84, September 2010

Reduced gray matter in the anterior cingulate gyrus in familial schizophrenia: A preliminary report

Gregory Costain
- Clinical Genetics Research Program, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Andrew Ho
- Clinical Genetics Research Program, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Adrian P. Crawley
- Department of Medical Imaging, Toronto Western Hospital, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
David J. Mikulis
- Department of Medical Imaging, Toronto Western Hospital, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Linda M. Brzustowicz
- Department of Genetics, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey, USA
Eva W.C. Chow
- Clinical Genetics Research Program, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Anne S. Bassett
- Clinical Genetics Research Program, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Corresponding author. Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 33 Russell Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 2S1. Tel.: +1 416 535 8501x2731; fax: +1 416 535 7199.

Received 10 March 2010; received in revised form 21 June 2010; accepted 22 June 2010. published online 20 July 2010.

Abstract

Few brain imaging studies of schizophrenia involve samples with enhanced genetic homogeneity. We compared MRI volumetric data between individuals with 1q21–q23 linked familial schizophrenia associated with NOS1AP and their first and second degree unaffected relatives. We found significant gray matter reductions in the anterior cingulate gyrus in both affected individuals and their unaffected first degree relatives when compared with their unaffected second degree relatives. These results suggest that the changes are primarily due to genetic risk and not illness effects, and may represent an intermediate phenotype.

Keywords: Magnetic resonance imaging, Familial schizophrenia, NOS1AP, Imaging genomics, Anterior cingulate, Voxel-based morphometry