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Structural covariance and cortical reorganisation in schizophrenia: a MRI-based morphometric study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 May 2018

Lena Palaniyappan ,
Olha Hodgson ,
Vijender Balain ,
Sarina Iwabuchi ,
Penny Gowland  and
Peter Liddle
Lena Palaniyappan*
Affiliation:
Robarts Research Institute & The Brain and Mind Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada Department of Psychiatry, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada Lawson Health Research Institute, London, Ontario, Canada
Olha Hodgson
Affiliation:
Translational Neuroimaging in Mental Health, University of Nottingham, UK
Vijender Balain
Affiliation:
Translational Neuroimaging in Mental Health, University of Nottingham, UK
Sarina Iwabuchi
Affiliation:
Translational Neuroimaging in Mental Health, University of Nottingham, UK
Penny Gowland
Affiliation:
Sir Peter Mansfield Imaging Center, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
Peter Liddle
Affiliation:
Translational Neuroimaging in Mental Health, University of Nottingham, UK
*
Author for correspondence: Lena Palaniyappan, E-mail: lpalaniy@uwo.ca
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Abstract

Background

In patients with schizophrenia, distributed abnormalities are observed in grey matter volume. A recent hypothesis posits that these distributed changes are indicative of a plastic reorganisation process occurring in response to a functional defect in neuronal information transmission. We investigated the structural covariance across various brain regions in early-stage schizophrenia to determine if indeed the observed patterns of volumetric loss conform to a coordinated pattern of structural reorganisation.

Methods

Structural magnetic resonance imaging scans were obtained from 40 healthy adults and 41 age, gender and parental socioeconomic status matched patients with schizophrenia. Volumes of grey matter tissue were estimated at the regional level across 90 atlas-based parcellations. Group-level structural covariance was studied using a graph theoretical framework.

Results

Patients had distributed reduction in grey matter volume, with high degree of localised covariance (clustering) compared with controls. Patients with schizophrenia had reduced centrality of anterior cingulate and insula but increased centrality of the fusiform cortex, compared with controls. Simulating targeted removal of highly central nodes resulted in significant loss of the overall covariance patterns in patients compared with controls.

Conclusion

Regional volumetric deficits in schizophrenia are not a result of random, mutually independent processes. Our observations support the occurrence of a spatially interconnected reorganisation with the systematic de-escalation of conventional ‘hub’ regions. This raises the question of whether the morphological architecture in schizophrenia is primed for compensatory functions, albeit with a high risk of inefficiency.

Keywords

Cortical reorganisationgrey mattermorphometrypsychosisschizophrenia
Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 49 , Issue 3 , February 2019 , pp. 412 - 420
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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