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Brain differences in first-episode schizophrenia treated with quetiapine: a deformation-based morphometric study

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Abstract

Rationale

With the development of various imaging techniques, the deformation-based morphometry (DBM) method provides an objective automatic examination of the whole brain.

Objectives

This study aims to assess the abnormalities in the brains of first-episode schizophrenia (FES) patients treated with quetiapine using another advanced nonrigid registration method, hierarchical attribute matching mechanism for elastic registration, through the application of DBM in the entire brain.

Methods

Thirty FES patients and 30 normal controls were grouped by age and handedness and subjected to magnetic resonance imaging examination. The patients had relatively short durations of untreated psychosis (DUP; 6.4 ± 5.2 months), and only a single antipsychotic drug, quetiapine (dosage, 200 ± 75 mg), was used for treatment. Statistically significant changes in regional volume were analyzed via DBM. In addition, a voxel-wise analysis of correlations between the duration of treatment or dosage and volume was also performed.

Results

Compared with control subjects, FES patients showed contracted regions located in Brodmann area (BA) 42 and BA 19. By contrast, expanded regions were observed in BA 38, BA 21, BA 6 and 8, and left cerebellum. A negative correlation was observed between dosage and volume in the hippocampus, while a positive correlation was found in the caudate. Meanwhile, a negative correlation was observed between duration of treatment and volume in BA 38.

Conclusion

Both regional volume reductions and increases were detected in the brains of FES patients treated with quetiapine compared with healthy control subjects. Such differences may be partially relevant to dosage and treatment duration in clinic.

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Acknowledgments

This work is partially supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Beijing (Grant No. 3112005) and the Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 81101107).

Conflict of interest

The authors have no financial interests in the current data and report no conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Life Science and Bioengineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, 100022, China

    Chunlan Yang, Shuicai Wu, Yanping Bai & Hongjian Gao

  2. Center of Neurosurgery, PLA Navy General Hospital, Beijing, 100037, China

    Wangsheng Lu

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  1. Chunlan Yang
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  2. Shuicai Wu
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  4. Yanping Bai
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Correspondence to Shuicai Wu.

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Yang, C., Wu, S., Lu, W. et al. Brain differences in first-episode schizophrenia treated with quetiapine: a deformation-based morphometric study. Psychopharmacology 232, 369–377 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-014-3670-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-014-3670-7

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