Abnormalities of cingulate gyrus neuroanatomy in schizophrenia

Abstract

Objective and Methods: Abnormalities of the neuroanatomy of the gray matter of the cingulate gyrus, especially its anterior segment, have been suggested to be an important characteristic of schizophrenia. In this study, T1-weighted magnetic resonance scans were collected in 53 individuals with schizophrenia and 68 comparison subjects matched for age, gender, race and parental socioeconomic status. We applied Labeled Cortical Mantle Distance Mapping to assess the volume, surface and thickness of the cortical mantle within the anterior (AC) and posterior (PC) segments of the cingulate gyrus, excluding the paracingulate gyrus, and related these anatomical measures to measures of psychopathology and illness duration. Results:After covarying for total cerebral volume, individuals with schizophrenia showed smaller AC gray matter volume (p=0.024), thickness (trend, p=0.081), but not surface area (p=0.16), than comparison subjects. Similar group differences were found for PC gray matter volume (p=0.0005) and thickness (trend, p=0.055), but not surface area (p=0.15). Across both groups, there was a significant L>R asymmetry in thickness of the AC, and a significant L>R asymmetry in the surface area of the PC. However, there were no significant group-by-hemisphere interactions. In the individuals with schizophrenia, thinning of the AC, but not the PC, was correlated with a longer duration of illness and a greater severity of psychotic symptoms.Conclusions: Individuals with schizophrenia showed smaller gray matter volumes across the entire cingulate gyrus, mostly due to a reduction in cortical mantle thickness. However, structural measures of the AC were more closely related to clinical features of the illness.

Differential Time Course of Microstructural White Matter in Patients With Psychotic Disorder and Individuals at Risk: A 3-Year Follow-up Study

“…Decreased anisotropy in the cingulum has also been described in several cross-sectional studies in patients with schizophrenia 48,49 and in the longitudinal study of Mitelman and colleagues (2009), where the left anterior cingulate gyrus was 1 of the 2 areas that showed a greater decline in FA in patients with schizophrenia compared to healthy participants. 20 Regarding the present finding of a patient-control difference in this region, current and previous cross-sectional DTI findings 50 in siblings may be suggestive of a WM intermediate phenotype.…”

Cingulate gyral reductions are related to low executive functioning and psychotic symptoms in 22q11.2 deletion syndrome

“…The existing literature on high-risk and schizophrenic samples implicates the CG in the pathology of psychosis (Borgwardt et al, 2007;Pantelis et al, 2003;Yamasue et al, 2004). Suzuki and colleagues (2005) suggest that loss of inhibitory control, typically regulated in networks involving the prefrontal cortex and the anterior CG (Kerns et al, 2004), may be significant to the development of such symptoms, related to an anterior CG grey matter volume reduction in schizophrenia (Choi et al, 2005;Wang et al, 2007). Concordantly, Allen et al (2008) review several reports illustrating anterior CG activity deficits during hallucinatory experiences.…”

“…These self-monitoring deficits, shown to involve the anterior CG , can promote the expression of hallucinations . Accordingly, both structural and functional alterations in the anterior CG are present among psychotic patients with positive symptoms (Choi et al, 2005;Shergill, Brammer, Williams, Murray, & McGuire, 2000;Wang et al, 2007). Therefore, given that 22q11DS patients are particularly prone to experience positive symptoms like hallucinations from a young age (Baker & Skuse, 2005;, a careful analysis of CG structure and associated clinical symptoms seems worthwhile.…”

Cingulate gyrus neuroanatomy in schizophrenia subjects and their non-psychotic siblings

“…In turn, in vivo neuroimaging studies comparing individuals with schizophrenia to healthy controls have shown evidence of decreased gray matter volume in the anterior cingulate gyrus (Ha et al 2004; Job et al 2002; Shapleske et al 2002; Sigmundsson et al 2001), the posterior cingulate gyrus (Hulshoff Pol et al 2001; Sowell et al 2000), and across the entire cingulate gyrus (Mitelman et al 2003; Narr et al 2005; Wang et al 2007). These abnormalities may be relevant to the cognitive disturbances associated with schizophrenia, as the cingulate gyrus is involved in a variety of cognitive functions, including error detection (anterior cingulate gyrus) and spatial memory (posterior cingulate gyrus), which are known to be disturbed in schizophrenia (Garavan et al 2003; Kerns et al 2005; Mayes et al 2004).…”