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Evidence for regional hippocampal damage in patients with schizophrenia

  • Functional Neuroradiology
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Abstract

Purpose

Schizophrenia patients show cognitive and mood impairments, including memory loss and depression, suggesting damage in the brain regions. The hippocampus is a brain structure that is significantly involved in memory and mood function and shows impairment in schizophrenia. In the present study, we examined the regional hippocampal changes in schizophrenia patients using voxel-based morphometry (VBM), Freesurfer, and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H MRS) procedures.

Methods

1H MRS and high-resolution T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging were collected in both healthy control subjects (N = 28) and schizophrenia patients (N = 28) using 3-Tesla whole body MRI system. Regional hippocampal volume was analyzed using VBM and Freesufer procedures. The relative ratios of the neurometabolites were calculated using linear combination model (LCModel).

Results

Compared to controls, schizophrenia patients showed significantly decreased gray matter volume in the hippocampus. Schizophrenia patients also showed significantly reduced glutamate (Glu) and myo-inositol (mI) ratios in the hippocampus. Additionally, significant positive correlation between gray matter volume and Glu/tCr was also observed in the hippocampus in schizophrenia.

Conclusion

Our findings provide an evidence for a possible association between structural deficits and metabolic alterations in schizophrenia patients.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. NMR Research Centre, Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS), DRDO, Lucknow Road, Timarpur, Delhi, India

    Sadhana Singh, Subash Khushu & Pawan Kumar

  2. Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), RML Hospital, New Delhi, India

    Satnam Goyal, Triptish Bhatia & Smita N Deshpande

Authors
  1. Sadhana Singh
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  2. Subash Khushu
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  3. Pawan Kumar
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  4. Satnam Goyal
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  5. Triptish Bhatia
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  6. Smita N Deshpande
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Subash Khushu.

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Funding

This study was funded by DRDO R&D Project No. INM-311(4.1) and funded in part by grant from the Fogarty International Centre, NIH, The Impact of Yoga Supplementation on Cognitive Function Among Indian Outpatients Grant #1R01TW008289 to TB.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in the studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Singh, S., Khushu, S., Kumar, P. et al. Evidence for regional hippocampal damage in patients with schizophrenia. Neuroradiology 60, 199–205 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00234-017-1954-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00234-017-1954-4

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