Deviant cortical sulcation related to schizophrenia and cognitive deficits in the second trimester

Abstract

ObjectivesAberrant cortical development, inferred from cortical folding, is linked to the risk of schizophrenia. Cortical folds develop in a time-locked fashion during fetal growth. We leveraged this temporal specificity of sulcation to investigate the timing of the prenatal insult linked to schizophrenia and the cognitive impairment seen in this illness.MethodsAnatomical MRI scans from 68 patients with schizophrenia and 72 controls were used to evaluate the sulcal depth of five major invariable primary sulci representing lobar development (calcarine sulcus, superior temporal sulcus, superior frontal sulcus, intraparietal sulcus and inferior frontal sulcus) with formation representing the distinct developmental periods.ResultsA repeated-measure ANOVA with five sulci and two hemispheres as the within-subject factors and gender, age and intracranial volume as covariates revealed a significant effect of diagnosis (F[1,134] = 14.8, p = 0.0002). Control subjects had deeper bilateral superior temporal, right inferior frontal and left calcarine sulci. A deeper superior frontal sulcus predicted better cognitive scores among patients.ConclusionOur results suggest that the gestational disruption underlying schizophrenia is likely to predate, if not coincide with the appearance of calcarine sulcus (early second trimester). Nevertheless, the burden of cognitive deficits may relate specifically to the aberrant superior frontal development apparent in late second trimester.

Aberrant cortical surface and cognition function in drug-naive first-episode schizophrenia

“…These studies may not be comprehensive enough to study the neurodevelopmental mechanism of schizophrenia owing to the limitation of the studied brain regions and the sample inconsistency. A study indicated that the gestational disruption underlying schizophrenia is likely to predate, and the burden of cognitive damages may be associated specifically with the aberrant superior frontal development, which is apparent in late second trimester [40], suggesting that brain sulcus depth changes in the olfactory and superior frontal may be involved in the development of schizophrenia. Additionally, the frontal lobe plays a critical role in the integration and regulation of higher neural activities in humans [41].…”

Prognostic associations of cortical gyrification in minimally medicated schizophrenia in an early intervention setting

“…Gyrification patterns are established predominantly in the late second to third trimesters of pregnancy and remain relatively stable after postnatal week; 6 , 10 , 11 aberrant gyrification in adults with schizophrenia is often interpreted as a sign of an in utero pathology 12 . This interpretation is supported by studying obstetric complications; preterm-born adults show widespread reductions in gyrification similar to the pattern seen in patients with established schizophrenia 13 .…”