36. Investigating the Role of Hippocampal Parvalbumin Interneurons in Schizophrenia-Like Deficits and Alcohol Intake
Schizophrenia is characterized by positive (e.g. hallucinations and delusions) and negative (e.g. anhedonia, social withdrawal) symptoms. Schizophrenia patients are at an increased risk for developing an alcohol use disorder (AUD), which results in worse health and social outcomes. The anterior hippocampus (ventral hippocampus (vHipp) in rodents) has been implicated in the pathology of schizophrenia. Specifically, both schizophrenia patients and rodent models displaying schizophrenia-like deficits show hippocampal hyperactivity, thought to be driven by deficits in parvalbumin (PV)-positive inhibitory interneurons. (Source:...
Source: Biological Psychiatry - April 29, 2024 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Jamie Palmer, Jennifer Donegan Source Type: research
56. Charting the Influence of Maternal Depression Throughout Pregnancy on Neonatal Thalamocortical White Matter Connectivity
Thalamocortical pathways, critical for sensory integration and brain maturation, are associated with neurodevelopmental disorders such as schizophrenia and autism. Studies indicating a correlation between prenatal depression and an increase in autism spectrum traits in offspring suggest that thalamocortical pathway disruptions could be a potential mechanistic link. However, research specifically investigating the influence of maternal depression on thalamocortical development in neonates is notably scarce. (Source: Biological Psychiatry)
Source: Biological Psychiatry - April 29, 2024 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Yun Wang, Anthony Gagnon, Elizabeth Raffanello, Yanming Xiu, Virginie Bouchard, Ardesheer Talati, Jonathan Posner Source Type: research
39. Prefrontal Natural Frequency Slowing in Early-Course Schizophrenia and its Association With Clinical Symptoms and Working Memory Performance: A TMS-EEG Study
In this study, we examined whether the NF and related oscillatory parameters (i.e., the relative spectral power, RSP) of DLPFC were also slowed in early course schizophrenia (EC-SCZ) patients and whether this slowing was associated with their clinical symptoms and cognitive impairments. (Source: Biological Psychiatry)
Source: Biological Psychiatry - April 29, 2024 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Francesco Donati, Ahmad Mayeli, Sabine Janssen, Robert Krafty, Adenauer Casali, Fabio Ferrarelli Source Type: research
37. The Structural Connectome Constrains in Vivo Synaptic Density Loss in Schizophrenia
Converging genetic and post-mortem evidence suggests the loss of synapses is fundamental to schizophrenia pathogenesis. The radioligand [11C]UCB-J now allows in vivo examination of synaptic density via positron emission tomography (PET), revealing widespread lower density in schizophrenia. However, the mechanisms explaining the spatial pattern of these alterations remain elusive. Here, we investigate whether the brain's axonal fibres act as conduits for synaptic density loss in schizophrenia, as observed in other neurological syndromes. (Source: Biological Psychiatry)
Source: Biological Psychiatry - April 29, 2024 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Sidhant Chopra, Patrick Worhunsky, Mika Naganawa, Gustavo Angarita, Kelly Cosgrove, Deepak D'Souza, David Matuskey, Nabeel Nabulsi, Yiyun Huang, Richard E. Carson, Irina Esterlis, Patrick D. Skosnik, Avram Holmes, Rajiv Radhakrishnan Source Type: research
36. Unique Functional Neuroimaging Signatures of Genetic Versus Clinical High Risk for Psychosis
22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome (22qDel) is a copy number variant (CNV) associated with schizophrenia and other neurodevelopmental disorders. Studying this population provides a framework for linking genes to neuropsychiatric phenotypes. Adolescents at clinical high risk for psychosis (CHR) have sub-threshold psychosis symptoms without a known genetic risk factor. Here we compared these high-risk populations on measures of functional connectivity and mapped these results to biological pathways with multi-modal data. (Source: Biological Psychiatry)
Source: Biological Psychiatry - April 29, 2024 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Charles Schleifer, Sarah Chang, Carolyn Amir, Kathleen P. O'Hora, Hoki Fung, Leila Kushan-Wells, Eileen Daly, Fabio Di Fabio, Marianna Frascarelli, Maria Gudbrandsen, Wendy R. Kates, Declan Murphy, North American Longitudinal Prodromal Study-2 (NAPLS2) Co Source Type: research
33. Testing Novel EEG Measures of the Dynamic Core Model of Consciousness: Relevance to Schizophrenia and Negative Thinking
Schizophrenia has been broadly characterized by global impairment in the integrative functions of the brain, hypothesized to reflect a ‘dynamic core’ of brain activity from which more complex, specialized dynamics emerge to inform the contents of consciousness. (Source: Biological Psychiatry)
Source: Biological Psychiatry - April 29, 2024 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Michael Jacob, Parham Pourdavood, Daniel Mathalon, Susanna Fryer, Judith Ford Source Type: research
32. Comparative Genetic Architectures of Schizophrenia in Admixed African American and European Populations
Schizophrenia and related psychoses occur in all human populations but are diagnosed most frequently among Black and African ancestry individuals. Inherited genetic factors also strongly influence primary susceptibility, but do not explain differences in prevalence across populations. (Source: Biological Psychiatry)
Source: Biological Psychiatry - April 29, 2024 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Tim Bigdeli, Chris Chatzinakos, Georgios Voloudakis, Bryan Gorman, Peter Barr, Giulio Genovese, David Burstein, David Braff, J. Michael Gaziano, Sumitra Muralidhar, Grant Huang, Saiju Pyarajan, Cooperative Studies Program (CSP) 572, Million Veteran Progra Source Type: research
12. Reduced P300 Responses Are Associated With Altered Excitatory and Inhibitory Cell Function in High-Risk Individuals who Convert to Psychosis: Insights From the NAPLS-2 Sample
Patients with schizophrenia and individuals at clinical high-risk for psychosis (CHR-P) exhibit reduced P300 responses to oddball stimuli. This has been associated with clinical outcomes (Hamilton et al., 2019, JAMA Psychiatry). P300 deficits may arise from (excitatory) pyramidal neuron and/or inhibitory interneuron abnormalities, both of which have been implicated in aetiological theories of schizophrenia. We investigated excitatory and inhibitory cell function in CHR-P using dynamic causal modelling (DCM) of electroencephalography (EEG) recorded during an auditory oddball paradigm. (Source: Biological Psychiatry)
Source: Biological Psychiatry - April 29, 2024 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Julia Rodriguez-Sanchez, Daniel J. Hauke, Karl Friston, Tyrone Cannon, Daniel Mathalon, Rick Adams Source Type: research
Neurofunctional Substrates of Prior Overweighting in Delusions
A growing literature suggests that delusions may result from prior overweighting during belief updating. Here, we sought to identify the neural substrates of prior beliefs during a novel sequential belief-updating fMRI task and tested whether neural prior weighting scaled with variability in behavioral prior weighting and delusion severity in schizophrenia. (Source: Biological Psychiatry)
Source: Biological Psychiatry - April 29, 2024 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Brandon Ashinoff, Kenneth Wengler, Nicholas Singletary, Najate Ojeil, Guillermo Horga Source Type: research
Subcortical Brain Alterations Across Copy Number Variants Converge With Those in Severe Mental Illnesses
Copy number variants (CNVs) —the duplication or deletion of sequences of the genome—are associated with an increased risk of developing severe mental illnesses (SMI) including schizophrenia, bipolar, and major depressive disorders. Little is known about how different CNVs conferring risk for the same SMI may affect brain s tructures and how these alterations relate to the level of disease risk conferred by CNVs. To address this, we investigated gross volume, vertex-level thickness, and surface maps of subcortical structures in 11 CNVs and six SMIs. (Source: Biological Psychiatry)
Source: Biological Psychiatry - April 29, 2024 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Kuldeep Kumar, Claudia Modenato, Clara Moreau, Christopher Ching, Carrie Bearden, Paul M. Thompson, Sebastien Jacquemont Source Type: research
Does Hippocampus Show Early Neural Signals of Psychosis?
It was our early studies that noted hippocampal hyperactivity in people with active psychosis which impressed me with the potential role of this brain region in psychosis, especially given its primary function in memory. Our initial laboratory studies focused on excitatory and inhibitory biomarker signals in human postmortem hippocampus by subfield in schizophrenia (SZ) and healthy control (HC), which identified evidence of dentate gyrus (DG) failure and CA3/CA1 hyperactivity. These human studies suggested follow-up experiments in laboratory animals, which we have been doing. (Source: Biological Psychiatry)
Source: Biological Psychiatry - April 29, 2024 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Carol Tamminga Source Type: research
EEG-Based Event-Related Potential Biomarkers as Predictors of Clinical Outcomes in Youth at Clinical High Risk for Psychosis
Over 2-3 years of follow-up, only 15-20 % of individuals at clinical high risk for psychosis (CHR-P) convert to psychosis, 20-30% of CHR-P non-converters achieve remission. These variable outcomes and low conversion/remission rates pose challenges for drug development and personalized treatments. Accordingly, biomarkers that predict clinical outcomes are needed. EEG-based event-related potential (ERP) biomarkers, including mismatch negativity (MMN), repetition positivity (RP), and P300, showed promise in the NAPLS2 consortium and are currently implemented in the Accelerating Medicines Partnership-Schizophrenia (AMP-SCZ) co...
Source: Biological Psychiatry - April 29, 2024 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Daniel Mathalon, NAPLS2 Investigators, AMP-SCZ Investigators Tags: SYMPOSIUM Source Type: research
Race and Schizophrenia: Evidence for Epigenetics
Race is a socially constructed category and not explained by biological underpinnings. Persons racialized as Black experience greater racism and social disadvantage and have significantly elevated risks for schizophrenia than White individuals. Racial biases can also influence medical care and outcomes, including prenatal care. Adverse pregnancy outcomes like pre-term birth affect over 14% of US Blacks compared to 9.3% of US Whites, and are independently associated with the risk for schizophrenia, transmissible through mothers. (Source: Biological Psychiatry)
Source: Biological Psychiatry - April 29, 2024 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Dolores Malaspina, Yechiel Friedlander Source Type: research
Dissecting the Relationships Between Cannabis Use Disorder and Schizophrenia Using Genome-Wide Approaches
There is enduring interest in understanding the extent to which shared genetic factors play a role in the relationship between cannabis use disorder (CanUD) and schizophrenia (Scz). (Source: Biological Psychiatry)
Source: Biological Psychiatry - April 29, 2024 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Emma Johnson, Daniel Levey, David Baranger, Sarah Colbert, Joel Gelernter, Arpana Agrawal Source Type: research
Terminal Type-Specific Cannabinoid CB1 Receptor Alterations in Patients With Schizophrenia
Individuals with schizophrenia use cannabis at a higher rate than the general population and may experience disease symptom exacerbations when exposed to cannabis. The major psychoactive substance in cannabis delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, targets the cannabinoid CB1 receptor (CB1R). Thus far, studies examining CB1R alterations in schizophrenia have led to conflicting results. We recently demonstrated differential levels of CB1R present in excitatory and inhibitory boutons in the postmortem human prefrontal cortex. (Source: Biological Psychiatry)
Source: Biological Psychiatry - April 29, 2024 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Shinnyi Chou Source Type: research
