Cerebellar volume in schizophrenia and bipolar I disorder with and without psychotic features

Abstract

Objective There is growing evidence that cerebellum plays a crucial role in cognition and emotional regulation. Cerebellum is likely to be involved in the physiopathology of both bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. The objective of our study was to compare cerebellar size between patients with bipolar disorder patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls in a multicenter sample. In addition, we studied the influence of psychotic features on cerebellar size in bipolar patients. Method One hundred and fifteen bipolar I patients, thirty-two patients with schizophrenia and fifty-two healthy controls underwent 3 Tesla MRI. Automated segmentation of cerebellum was performed using FreeSurfer software. Volumes of cerebellar cortex and white matter were extracted. Analyses of covariance were conducted and age, sex and intracranial volume were considered as covariates. Results Bilateral cerebellar cortical volumes were smaller in patients with schizophrenia compared to patients with bipolar I disorder and healthy controls. We found no significant difference of cerebellar volume between bipolar patients with and without psychotic features. No change was evidenced in white matter. Conclusion Our results suggest that reduction of cerebellar cortical volume is specific to schizophrenia. Cerebellar dysfunction in bipolar disorder, if present, appears to be more subtle than a reduction in cerebellar volume.

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Dandy-Walker Malformation-Like Condition Revealed by Refractory Schizophrenia: A Case Report and Literature Review

“…Cerebellar structures, especially the vermis, are associated with the pathophysiology of psychiatric disorders including schizophrenia [3-12] and are specifically associated with auditory verbal hallucinations [13] or cognitive dysfunctions [14-16]. Structural and functional cerebellar abnormalities have been observed in schizophrenia [17, 18], and smaller cerebellar hemispheres or vermis atrophy have been seen in both first-episode and chronic schizophrenia [11]. The cerebellum is connected to the cerebral cortex by a cortico-cerebellar-thalamic-cortical circuit, which facilitates the automatic modulation of mood and behavior.…”