Hippocampal Subfield and Amygdala Nuclei Volumes in Schizophrenia Patients With a History of Violence

Abstract

Schizophrenia (SCZ) is associated with an increased risk of violence compared to the general population. Previous studies have indicated smaller hippocampal and amygdala volumes in violent than non-violent psychotic patients. However, little is known about volumetric differences at the subdivision level of these structures. In the present study, hippocampal subfields and amygdala nuclei volumes were estimated with FreeSurfer from 3 T MRI of SCZ patients with (SCZ-V, n = 24) and without (SCZ-NV, n = 51) a history of severe violence and 90 healthy controls (HC). Volumetric differences between groups were explored with a general linear model covarying for confounders, in addition to follow-up analyses in patient groups controlling for clinical characteristics such as antipsychotic medication, duration of illness and illicit substance use. SCZ-V had smaller total hippocampal volume and smaller CA1, HATA, fimbria, and molecular layer of DG volumes compared to HC. Total amygdala volume together with basal nucleus, accessory basal nucleus, CTA, and paralaminar nucleus volumes were smaller in SCZ-V compared to HC. In SCZ-NV, compared to HC, the observed smaller volumes were limited to basal and paralaminar nucleus. There were no significant differences in hippocampal subfield and amygdala nuclei volumes between SCZ-V and SCZ-NV. Follow-up analyses showed that the results in patient groups were not affected by clinical characteristics. The results suggest that smaller hippocampal subfield and amygdala nuclei volumes may be relevant to violence risk in SCZ. However, the neurobiological signature of violence in SCZ should be further investigated in larger cohorts.

Differential alterations of amygdala nuclei volumes in acutely ill patients with anorexia nervosa and their associations with leptin levels

“…In fact, they ranged from almost 11% (medial nucleus lh) to less than 2% (paralaminar nucleus rh) and showed focal maxima in subregions anatomically aggregated in the bilateral rostral-medial amygdala. Recent studies in major depressive disorder (Yao et al, 2020), obsessive-compulsive disorder (Zhang et al, 2020), posttraumatic stress disorder (Morey et al, 2020), and schizophrenia (Barth et al, 2021;Tesli et al, 2020;Zheng et al, 2019) have also documented differential alterations of amygdala subregions but spatial patterns differed from our findings. Importantly, despite limited comparability due to differing etiology, the medium-to-large effect sizes of amygdala nuclei reductions in acute AN found here substantially exceed the small effects previously reported under other neuropsychiatric conditions where widespread GM alterations are well-established, such as schizophrenia (van Erp et al, 2016).…”

In vivo amygdala nuclei volumes in schizophrenia and bipolar disorders

“…The amygdala is often studied together with the hippocampus (15,25,27), as both structures are tightly and reciprocally connected and topologically intertwined (28).…”

“…The amygdala is often studied together with the hippocampus (15, 25, 27), as both structures are tightly and reciprocally connected and topologically intertwined (28). Abnormalities in the amygdala-hippocampus complex have been implicated both in schizophrenia (2) and bipolar disorders (13).…”

A Scoping Review on Biological Factors Associated with Interpersonal Violence in Adults with Severe Mental Illness

“…Two systematic reviews (Fjellvang, et al and Widmayer, et al) found volume differences in some areas such as prefrontal regions, temporal lobe, hippocampus, thalamus and cerebellum, lateral ventricles, amygdala, and putamen, and Tesli, et al showed differences in hippocampal subfields and amygdala nuclei volumes in violent patients with schizophrenia [16,19,37]. In addition, Storverstre, et al showed differences in cortical folding and cortical thickness in different cor-Nonetheless, this scoping review describes current research and provides information that could help researchers in future studies on this topic.…”

“…Li, et al found a relationship between Th17-related cytokine levels and the severity of schizophrenia and aggressive behavior. In addition, some studies found differences in gray matter volume, cortical morphology, and hippocampal volume in people with schizophrenia and violence [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19].…”