TY - JOUR
T1 - Investigation of structural brain correlates of neurological soft signs in individuals at ultra-high risk for psychosis
AU - Wang, Ya
AU - Braam, Esmee E.
AU - Wannan, Cassandra M.J.
AU - Van Rheenen, Tamsyn E.
AU - Chan, Raymond C.K.
AU - Nelson, Barnaby
AU - McGorry, Patrick D.
AU - Yung, Alison R.
AU - Lin, Ashleigh
AU - Brewer, Warrick J.
AU - Koutsogiannis, John
AU - Wood, Stephen J.
AU - Velakoulis, Dennis
AU - Pantelis, Christos
AU - Cropley, Vanessa L.
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by project grants (IDs: 970598 and 981112) and Program Grant (ID: 350241) from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), Australia; the Ian Potter Foundation, Melbourne; Woods Family Trust, Melbourne; a Program Grant from the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation, Melbourne. C Pantelis was supported by NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellowships (628386 and 1105825), and a Brain and Behavior Research Foundation (NARSAD) Distinguished Investigator Award (US; Grant ID: 18722). PD McGorry was supported by a NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellowship, and a Brain and Behavior Research Foundation (NARSAD) Distinguished Investigator Award (US). AR Yung was supported by a NHMRC Principal Research Fellowship (1136829) and a National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Senior Fellowship Award. Y Wang was supported by the China Scholarship Council. T Van Rheenen was supported by an NHMRC Early Career Fellowship (1088785). B Nelson was supported by an NHMRC Senior Research Fellowship (1137687). A Lin is supported by an NHMRC Career Development Fellowship (1148793). VL Cropley was supported by a NHMRC Investigator Grant (1177370), a Brain and Behavior Research Foundation (NARSAD) Young Investigator Award (21660), and a University of Melbourne Dame Kate Campbell Fellowship. Raymond Chan was supported by the National Key Research and Development Programme (2016YFC0906402).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.
PY - 2021/12
Y1 - 2021/12
N2 - Increased severity of neurological soft signs (NSS) in schizophrenia have been associated with abnormal brain morphology in cerebello-thalamo-cortical structures, but it is unclear whether similar structures underlie NSS prior to the onset of psychosis. The present study investigated the relationship between severity of NSS and grey matter volume (GMV) in individuals at ultra-high risk for psychosis (UHR) stratified for later conversion to psychosis. Structural T1-weighted MRI scans were obtained from 56 antipsychotic-naïve UHR individuals and 35 healthy controls (HC). The UHR individuals had follow-up data (mean follow-up: 5.2 years) to ascertain clinical outcome. Using whole-brain voxel-based morphometry, the relationship between NSS and GMV at baseline was assessed in UHR, HC, as well as individuals who later transitioned (UHR-P, n = 25) and did not transition (UHR-NP, n = 31) to psychosis. NSS total and subscale scores except motor coordination were significantly higher in UHR compared to HC. Higher signs were also found in UHR-P, but not UHR-NP. Total NSS was not associated with GMV in the whole sample or in each group. However, in UHR-P individuals, greater deficits in sensory integration was associated with lower GMV in the left cerebellum, right insula, and right middle frontal gyrus. In conclusion, NSS are present in UHR individuals, particularly those who later transitioned to a psychotic disorder. While these signs show little overall variation with GMV, the association of sensory integration deficits with lower GMV in UHR-P suggests that certain brain areas may be implicated in the development of specific neurological abnormalities in the psychosis prodrome.
AB - Increased severity of neurological soft signs (NSS) in schizophrenia have been associated with abnormal brain morphology in cerebello-thalamo-cortical structures, but it is unclear whether similar structures underlie NSS prior to the onset of psychosis. The present study investigated the relationship between severity of NSS and grey matter volume (GMV) in individuals at ultra-high risk for psychosis (UHR) stratified for later conversion to psychosis. Structural T1-weighted MRI scans were obtained from 56 antipsychotic-naïve UHR individuals and 35 healthy controls (HC). The UHR individuals had follow-up data (mean follow-up: 5.2 years) to ascertain clinical outcome. Using whole-brain voxel-based morphometry, the relationship between NSS and GMV at baseline was assessed in UHR, HC, as well as individuals who later transitioned (UHR-P, n = 25) and did not transition (UHR-NP, n = 31) to psychosis. NSS total and subscale scores except motor coordination were significantly higher in UHR compared to HC. Higher signs were also found in UHR-P, but not UHR-NP. Total NSS was not associated with GMV in the whole sample or in each group. However, in UHR-P individuals, greater deficits in sensory integration was associated with lower GMV in the left cerebellum, right insula, and right middle frontal gyrus. In conclusion, NSS are present in UHR individuals, particularly those who later transitioned to a psychotic disorder. While these signs show little overall variation with GMV, the association of sensory integration deficits with lower GMV in UHR-P suggests that certain brain areas may be implicated in the development of specific neurological abnormalities in the psychosis prodrome.
KW - Grey matter volume
KW - Neurological soft signs
KW - Transition
KW - Ultra-high risk
KW - Voxel-based morphometry
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85118447541&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s00406-021-01300-9
DO - 10.1007/s00406-021-01300-9
M3 - Article
C2 - 34467451
AN - SCOPUS:85118447541
SN - 0940-1334
VL - 271
SP - 1475
EP - 1485
JO - European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience
JF - European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience
IS - 8
ER -
