Understanding structural brain changes in schizophrenia

DeLisi, Lynn E.; Szulc, Kamila U.; Bertisch, Hilary; Majcher, Magda; Brown, Kyle

doi:10.31887/dcns.2006.8.1/ldelisi

Cited by 78 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…The initiatives taken to pharmacologically enhance cognition are plentiful; however, the results of such studies are diverse and few studies have been able to demonstrate replicable cognitive enhancement in patients with schizophrenia [ 38 ]. One contributing factor to these shortcomings, may be that schizophrenia encompasses abnormal progressive loss in brain volume [ 41 ], possibly counteracting any cognitive enhancing potential. However, cognitive enhancing therapy was recently demonstrated to counteract gray matter loss in patients with schizophrenia [ 42 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

L-lysine as adjunctive treatment in patients with schizophrenia: a single-blinded, randomized, cross-over pilot study

Wass

Klamer

Katsarogiannis

et al. 2011

BMC Med

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BackgroundAccumulating evidence suggests that the brain's nitric oxide (NO) signalling system may be involved in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia and could thus constitute a novel treatment target. The study was designed to investigate the benefit of L-lysine, an amino acid that interferes with NO production, as an add-on treatment for schizophrenia.MethodsL-lysine, 6 g/day, was administered to 10 patients with schizophrenia as an adjunctive to their conventional antipsychotic medication. The study was designed as a single-blinded, cross-over study where patients were randomly assigned to initial treatment with either L-lysine or placebo and screened at baseline, after four weeks when treatment was crossed over, and after eight weeks.ResultsL-lysine treatment caused a significant increase in blood concentration of L-lysine and was well tolerated. A significant decrease in positive symptom severity, measured by the Positive And Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), was detected. A certain decrease in score was also observed during placebo treatment and the effects on PANSS could not unequivocally be assigned to the L-lysine treatment. Furthermore, performance on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test was significantly improved compared to baseline, an effect probably biased by training. Subjective reports from three of the patients indicated decreased symptom severity and enhanced cognitive functioning.ConclusionsFour-week L-lysine treatment of 6 g/day caused a significant increase in blood concentration of L-lysine that was well tolerated. Patients showed a significant decrease in positive symptoms as assessed by PANSS in addition to self-reported symptom improvement by three patients. The NO-signalling pathway is an interesting, potentially new treatment target for schizophrenia; however, the effects of L-lysine need further evaluation to decide the amino acid's potentially beneficial effects on symptom severity in schizophrenia.Trial registrationNCT00996242

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

L-lysine as adjunctive treatment in patients with schizophrenia: a single-blinded, randomized, cross-over pilot study

Wass

Klamer

Katsarogiannis

et al. 2011

BMC Med

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“… 40 Thompson and colleagues 41 have also reported an accelerated decrease in gray matter volume in early-onset schizophrenia. Of particular note, in a recent review of the literature, DeLisi et al 42 reviewed evidence for progressive changes in both chronic and first-episode patients. They concluded that progressive changes over time in chronic patients are far less than what is observed in first-episode patients, again underscoring the fact that progressive changes in the early stages of illness may be more dramatic than changes observed later in the course of the illness.…”

Section: Mri Findings In Schizophreniamentioning

confidence: 99%

Structural neuroimaging in schizophrenia from methods to insights to treatments

Shenton

Whitford

Kubicki

2010

Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience

136

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Historically, Kraepelin speculated that dementia praecox resulted from damage to the cerebral cortex, most notably the frontal and temporal cortices. It is only recently, however, that tools have been available to test this hypothesis. Now, more than a century later, we know that schizophrenia is a brain disorder. This knowledge comes from critical advances in imaging technology--including computerized axial tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and diffusion imaging--all of which provide an unprecedented view of neuroanatomical structures, in vivo. Here, we review evidence for structural neuroimaging abnormalities, beginning with evidence for focal brain abnormalities, primarily in gray matter, and proceeding to the quest to identify abnormalities in brain systems and circuits by focusing on damage to white matter connections in the brain. We then review future prospects that need to be explored and pursued in order to translate our current knowledge into an understanding of the neurobiology of schizophrenia, which can then be translated into novel treatments.

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“…Schizophrenia is a complex disorder that includes widespread neurocognitive 1 , 2 and neuroanatomical impairments 3 , 4 . Studies have shown that compared to healthy controls, schizophrenia patients (SZH) have impaired cognitive performance across all cognitive domains including processing speed 5 , attention and vigilance 6 , working memory 7 , verbal learning 8 , visual learning 9 , reasoning/problem solving 9 , and social cognition 10 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cognitive impairment in schizophrenia: relationships with cortical thickness in fronto-temporal regions, and dissociability from symptom severity

2021

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Cognitive impairments are a core and persistent characteristic of schizophrenia with implications for daily functioning. These show only limited response to antipsychotic treatment and their neural basis is not well characterised. Previous studies point to relationships between cortical thickness and cognitive performance in fronto-temporal brain regions in schizophrenia patients (SZH). There is also evidence that these relationships might be independent of symptom severity, suggesting dissociable disease processes. We set out to explore these possibilities in a sample of 70 SZH and 72 age and gender-matched healthy controls (provided by the Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE)). Cortical thickness within fronto-temporal regions implicated by previous work was considered in relation to performance across various cognitive domains (from the MATRICS Cognitive Battery). Compared to controls, SZH had thinner cortices across most fronto-temporal regions and significantly lower performance on all cognitive domains. Robust relationships with cortical thickness were found: visual learning and attention performance correlated with bilateral superior and middle frontal thickness in SZH only. Correlations between attention performance and right transverse temporal thickness were also specific to SZH. Findings point to the importance of these regions for cognitive performance in SZH, possibly reflecting compensatory processes and/or aberrant connectivity. No links to symptom severity were observed in these regions, suggesting these relationships are dissociable from underlying psychotic symptomology. Findings enhance understanding of the brain structural underpinnings and possible aetiology of cognitive impairment in SZH.

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Understanding structural brain changes in schizophrenia

Cited by 78 publications

References 56 publications

L-lysine as adjunctive treatment in patients with schizophrenia: a single-blinded, randomized, cross-over pilot study

L-lysine as adjunctive treatment in patients with schizophrenia: a single-blinded, randomized, cross-over pilot study

Structural neuroimaging in schizophrenia from methods to insights to treatments

Cognitive impairment in schizophrenia: relationships with cortical thickness in fronto-temporal regions, and dissociability from symptom severity

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