Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, and North Western Mental Health Program, Sunshine Hospital and Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne
Department of Medicine (Neurosciences), Southern Clinical School, Monash University, Melbourne
Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, and North Western Mental Health Program, Sunshine Hospital and Royal Melbourne Hospital
Department of Medicine (Neurosciences), Southern Clinical School, Monash University, Melbourne
Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, and North Western Mental Health Program, Sunshine Hospital and Royal Melbourne Hospital
ORYGEN Research Centre, Early Psychosis Prevention and Intervention Centre (EPPIC), Personal Assistance and Crisis Evalaution (PACE) Clinic, and Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne
Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, and North Western Mental Health Program, Sunshine Hospital and Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, Australia
Correspondence: Mark Walterfang, Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VI 3050, Australia. Email: mark.walterfang{at}mh.org.au
None. Funding detailed in Acknowledgements.
This paper has been corrected post-publication, in deviation from print and in accordance with a printed corrigendum to appear in the August issue of the journal.
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The shape of the corpus callosum may differ in schizophrenia, although no study has compared first-episode with established illness.
Aims
To investigate the size and shape of the corpus callosum in a large sample of people with first-episode and established schizophrenia.
Method
Callosal size and shape were determined using high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging on 76 patients with first-episode schizophrenia-spectrum disorders, 86 patients with established schizophrenia and 55 healthy participants.
Results
There were no significant differences in total area across groups. Reductions in callosal width were seen in the region of the anterior genu in first-episode disorder (P<0.005). Similar reductions were seen in the chronic schizophrenia group in the anterior genu, but also in the posterior genu and isthmus (P=0.0005).
Conclusions
Reductions in anterior callosal regions connecting frontal cortex are present at the onset of schizophrenia, and in established illness are accompanied by changes in other regions of the callosum connecting cingulate, temporal and parietal cortices.
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The aim of the present MRI study was to determine whether the measures of callosal size and shape in a large cohort (n=217) of individuals across differing illness stages (first-episode schizophrenia-spectrum disorders and established illness) differed from that of controls. Based on previous work we hypothesised that patients with established illness would show a globally smaller corpus callosum and reductions in regions connecting frontal and temporal regions, with patients with first-episode schizophrenia-spectrum disorders exhibiting similar reductions.
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Participants were screened for comorbid medical and psychiatric conditions by clinical assessment, and physical and neurological examination. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants. The study was approved by the local Research and Ethics Committee. Exclusion criteria for patients were: a history of significant head injury, seizures, neurological diseases, impaired thyroid function, steroid use or DSM–III–R criteria of alcohol or substance dependence. Controls with a personal history of psychiatric illness or family history of psychosis were excluded.
Magnetic resonance scanning acquisition and analysis
All participants were scanned on a 1.5 T GE Signa MRI machine. A
three-dimensional volumetric spoiled gradient recalled echo in the steady
state sequence generated 124 contiguous, 1.5 mm coronal slices. Imaging
parameters were: time-to-echo (TE), 3.3 ms; time-to-repetition (TR), 14.3 ms;
flip angle, 30°; matrix size, 256 x 256; field of view (FOV), 24
x 24 cm matrix; voxel dimensions, 0.938 x 0.938 x 1.5 mm.
Head movement was minimised by foam padding and straps across the forehead and
chin. This scanner was calibrated fortnightly using the same proprietary
phantom to ensure stability and accuracy of measurements. A numerical code was
used to ensure masked analysis of data.
The brain was automatically segmented from the rest of the head.16 Using the software package Automated Image Registration (Red Hat Linux V9),17 images were registered to a template image comprising the average of 152 normal T1-weighted MRI scans previously placed in stereotaxic coordinate space. A nine-parameter linear transformation was used which allowed translation, rotation and scaling along each of the three principal axes. The midsagittal slice was identified and interpolated to a voxel dimension of 0.5 mm x 0.5 mm in the y- and z-planes. White matter voxels in the midsagittal slice were identified using a histogram segmentation procedure.18 Non-callosal voxels were then removed manually. A measure of callosal area in total mm2 was then generated. To measure regional callosal thickness, voxels at the edge of the callosum were identified, and upper and lower edges were defined according to anterior and posterior endpoints. An iterative search for optimum endpoints which maximised the length of a line segment traversing the centre of the callosum was then performed (Fig. 1). The line segment was defined by dividing the upper and lower surfaces of the callosum into 40 equidistant portions by 39 nodes. The midpoints between corresponding nodes on the upper and lower surfaces were identified. The line segment was created by joining endpoints and successive midpoints. Once the optimum endpoints and corresponding midpoints were identified, a smooth curve joining them was obtained with cubic spline interpolation. This curve was divided into 40 segments of equal lengths by 39 nodes. At each node, the line orthogonal to the curve was calculated. The distance between its intersection with the dorsal and ventral surfaces of the callosum represented regional callosal thickness at these 39 points; the average of these thicknesses represented mean callosal thickness (Fig. 1).
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Fig. 1 Endpoints, midpoint and dividing nodes used to measure callosal
thickness.
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Determination of the effects of demographic variables was undertaken with chi-square analyses for gender and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with Tukey's post hoc comparison for age in years, height in centimetres and premorbid IQ measured using the National Adult Reading Test.19 Positive and negative symptom scales on the PANSS were compared using ANOVA for three-group comparisons and t-tests for two-group comparisons. Callosal area was compared between groups using ANOVA. For regional callosal thickness, a non-parametric permutation method20 of 10 000 randomisations was used for group comparisons to account for non-independence between adjacent thickness measurements and for multiple comparisons; step-down tests were used to localise at which slices the thickness differed significantly. Two-group comparisons were undertaken with t-tests, and localisation for individual slice differences again using step-down testing. Non-parametric regression analyses using multiple dependent variables were undertaken to determine the effect of medication dose and positive and negative symptoms on callosal thickness measures. Statistical inference was based on the family-wise error rate method to correct for multiple comparisons.21
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2=9.68, P<0.01) with an excess of males with
established illness compared with other groups, and age
(F(2,216)=53.80, P<0.001) with
first-episode<controls<established illness. Premorbid IQ differed
significantly across groups (F(2,216)=6.48,
P<0.005) with controls>first-episode=established illness. There
were no significant differences across groups in handedness
(
2=5.13, P=0.274) or height
(F(2,216)=0.188, P=0.829). Mean duration of
illness prior to first scan in the established illness group was 13.30 years
(s.d.=8.95), and in the first-episode group the duration of their index
psychotic episode prior to first scan was 64.20 days (s.d.=112.22). The age at
onset of psychosis did not differ between the two broad patient groups
(t=1.264, P=0.208). The PANSS negative symptom total score
was higher in the established illness group at a trend level
(t=1.741, P=0.084), although positive symptoms did not
differ (t=–1.634, P=0.105). Medication dosage was
significantly higher in the established illness group (t=7.346,
P<0.0001). When the three first-episode groups were compared,
there were no significant differences on any demographic, medication, illness
onset/duration variables or symptom variables, other than PANSS positive
symptoms which were lower in the first-episode schizophrenia group
(F=(2,73)=6.683, P=0.002).
Analysis 1: main groups
Total area of the corpus callosum did not differ significantly between the
three main groups (F(2,216)=1.094, P=0.337), nor
when analyses were limited to males and right-handers. Illness duration was
not associated with area in the established illness group
(r=–0.052, P=0.638). Females across the sample had
larger callosal area (675.94 mm2) than males (648.76
mm2), although this did not reach significance (P=0.076).
A significant group x gender effect was found
(F(6,216)=3.238, P=0.041) with females (715.44
mm2) having a significantly larger total area than males (640.70
mm2) only in the control group (F(1,54)=6.028,
P=<0.05). When left-, right- and mixed-handed groups were
examined, corpus callosum area did not differ overall
(F2,216)=0.710, P=0.493), although a significant
group x handedness effect was found (F(6,216)=3.335,
P=0.038). Although in the control group left-handed people had a
larger callosal area than right-handed people, this difference was not seen in
the patient groups. There was no gender x handedness effect (by group)
on area. Group differences were apparent in the length
(F(2,216)=3.844, P=0.023), curvature
(F(2,216)=6.871, P=0.001) and mean width
(F(2,216)=3.685, P=0.026) of the callosum
however, with patients with established illness having longer, thinner and
more angulated callosi than the other two groups, which were comparable.
When comparing regional callosal thickness across groups, a number of differences were found. Across the three main groups (Fig. 2), a main effect of group was found (P<0.0001) at slices 1–5 (anterior genu) and 29–30 (isthmus) which remained significant when age was controlled for (P<0.05) or when only males were analysed (P<0.001). In step-down comparisons, significantly smaller widths were seen in the established illness group compared with the control group at slices 1–5, 11–21 and 28–30 (P=0.0005); and in the first-episode group as a whole at slices 1–3 (P<0.005). Identical regional changes were seen in the male only cohort.
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Fig. 2 Regional callosal thickness by main diagnostic group.
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Fig. 3 Regional callosal thickness in first-episode subgroups.
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Analysis 2: first-episode subgroups
The three first-episode subgroups did not differ significantly on measures
of callosal area (F(1,75)=1.429, P=0.246),
curvature (F(1,75)=1.927, P=0.153), length
(F(1,75)=0.103, P=0.902) and mean thickness
(F(1,75)=1.690, P=0.192). When regional callosal
thickness was compared between groups, there was no overall effect of group
(Fig. 3, P=0.145).
When first-episode subgroups were compared with the control group, only when
the schizophrenia group was compared was an effect of group found
(P<0.05), with significant reductions seen in slices 3 and 4,
located in the genu of the callosum; the schizophreniform v. control
comparison, equally well-powered, showed no overall effect of group
(P=0.638). Interestingly, the schizoaffective disorder group showed a
trend (P=0.079) towards a group effect with a reduction seen in slice
3, and exploratory post hoc analyses suggested significant
(P<0.05) increases in slices 25–27 and 36–39, when
compared with the control group.
Analysis 3: age and duration of illness variables
As previous authors had found a loss of age-related expansion of callosal
area in people with first-episode
schizophrenia,10
the relationship of age to callosal area was examined separately in each group
(Fig. 4). This relationship was
seen in the control group (r=0.297, P<0.05), but not in
the established illness group (r=–0.050, P=0.648), and
this difference was significant (P<0.05); the first-episode
group's narrow age range prevented meaningful comparisons.
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Fig. 4 Callosal area between groups according to age. Light blue, control group;
dark blue, established illness group.
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Analysis 4: medication dosage
Complete medication data at scanning time were available for 66/86 patients
with established illness (28 on typical and 36 on atypical antipsychotics and
2 on no medication) and for 72/76 patients with first-episode
schizophrenia-spectrum disorders (27 on typicals, 43 on atypicals and 2 on no
medication). There was no difference in any demographic measure
(age/gender/height/premorbid IQ) between those on typical v. atypical
antipsychotics, and no difference in the main callosal measures (area, length,
curvature and thickness) across and within the established illness and
first-episode groups. Removing patients on lithium treatment (n=3)
did not affect the results.
Medication dosage in chlorpromazine equivalents did not affect any of the main callosal measures, although it negatively correlated with curvature alone (r=–0.357, P=0.007) in the first-episode group. In the regression analysis, medication dose was not significantly related to regional slice thickness in the first-episode or established illness groups.
Analysis 5: symptoms
In the patient group (established illness and first-episode
schizophrenia-spectrum disorders) as a whole, positive symptoms on the PANSS
did not correlate with any callosal variable whereas negative symptoms
significantly negatively correlated with callosal bending angle
(r=–0.215, P=0.013). In the established illness group
alone, neither positive nor negative symptoms correlated with any callosal
variable; in the first-episode group, a positive correlation was demonstrated
between negative symptoms and callosal area (r=0.307,
P=0.018) and thickness (r=0.288, P=0.027).
Regression analysis showed no relationship between positive or negative
symptoms in either patient group.
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Regional thickness changes
Regional thickness of the corpus callosum has not been examined in other
cohorts using a method like that described in this study. The most similar
method of analysis was a study by Downhill et
al22 comparing
controls, patients with schizophrenia and patients with schizotypal
personality disorder, dividing the callosum into 30 segmental areas (not
widths) based on equidistant nodes along a mid-callosal spline and using
repeated-measures ANOVA. This study found a smaller area in both the genu and
splenium of patients with schizophrenia; findings in the genu are consistent
with our findings. Their research did not assess a first-episode group but did
include a schizotypy comparator group. The advantage of using computational
morphometry is that it avoids the arbitrary distinction of the corpus callosum
into defined subregions, such as the method defined by
Witelson,23 and
ensures that the methodology is free of arbitrary anatomical-assumptions that
may alter the results. Additionally, a methodology that uses a large number of
subdivisions or slices increases the potential of detecting subtle regional
changes, and rigorous non-parametric methods for statistical inference allow
correction for multiple comparisons and dependence of adjacent slice
measurements.
Changes at illness stage
In addition, no other study has examined callosal morphology using patients
with first-episode psychosis/schizophrenia or chronic schizophrenia using the
same methodology. As the findings in patients with first-episode
schizophrenia-spectrum disorders and with established illness were homologous
in anterior regions, a similar process may be involved in causing the regional
reductions in the genu of the corpus callosum in both groups, indicating that
anterior pathology is present at first episode of illness. Chronic
schizophrenia shows similar reductions in the anterior genu (slices 2–5,
carrying ventral/medial prefrontal fibres), with additional reductions in
posterior genu/anterior body (slices 13–17, carrying cingulate, premotor
and supplementary motor area fibres) and isthmus (slices 27–32, carrying
cingulate, superior temporal and posterior parietal
fibres).24 It may
be these changes outside the anterior genu that are related to a subgroup who
develop chronic illness, whereas changes in the genu that occur with or prior
to first episode of psychosis may reflect an earlier neurodevelopmental insult
present across subgroups, or changes that occur during first psychosis. A
second possibility is that these changes represent illness progression;
however, longitudinal analysis in the same individuals is needed to
demonstrate the presence of `neuroprogressive' change
conclusively.25
Examining individuals pre-psychosis who later progress to psychosis would
allow a determination of the timing of the onset of these changes.
The subgroup analysis of the first-episode group identified anterior reductions in the schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder subgroups, but not the schizophreniform subgroup. Assuming that the schizophreniform subgroup differs from the schizophrenia subgroup only in duration of symptoms, this raises the possibility that the genual changes seen actually occur during the first psychotic episode rather than prior to it. Furthermore, since only the schizoaffective disorder subgroup showed expansions in other callosal regions, the results may suggest that the affective axis of this illness is associated with changes in other brain regions. We also mirrored the results of Keshavan et al in showing a loss of the normal age-related expansion of corpus callosum area in schizophrenia,10 although this finding contrasts with that of Woodruff et al, who showed a loss of the negative correlation between age and corpus callosum area in patients.26
The corpus callosum is topographically organised, with anterior segments connecting anterior cortical regions and posterior segments connecting posterior cortical regions.24 In Alzheimer's disease, patients with dementia and in the pre-dementia phase show reductions in callosal regions associated with cortical hypometabolism and atrophy;27 it could be expected that alterations in cortical regions seen in schizophrenia in prefrontal, temporal and inferior parietal cortex28 would be associated with regional changes in the callosal genu, isthmus and anterior splenium. Shape analysis of the corpus callosum has implicated these regions in patients with first-episode schizophrenia.29 This suggests that not only are these changes present at the first episode of schizophrenia and thus potentially representative of neurodevelopmental changes, but that they may relate to grey matter changes – although studies examining both cortical regions and callosal subregions are lacking. Previous studies of the corpus callosum in schizophrenia have been limited by small sample sizes (the mean number of patients was 25 and of controls was 17 in studies prior to Woodruff's 1995 meta-analysis)9 and many studies have not controlled for factors known to affect corpus callosum size and shape, including gender, handedness and age.23 In addition, as antipsychotic medication has been shown to produce increases and decreases in regional white matter volume30 and may confound longitudinal studies or those that aim to compare individuals at different illness stages,31 the possible effect of medication is an important potential confounder on corpus callosum structure, not yet examined in morphometry studies. Examining patients across the life-cycle of schizophrenia may shed light on the neurodevelopmental timing of a potential neuropathological process25 and may provide insights about the relationship of brain changes to prognosis.
Relevance of white matter changes
This study leaves a number of unanswered questions. The first of these is
whether callosal changes are primary or secondary to grey matter changes that
have been reported in studies of individuals who are pre- or peri-psychotic. A
compelling body of neuroimaging evidence exists implicating white matter
structures, including the corpus callosum, in
schizophrenia,32–34
but most of these studies have not examined related grey matter structures in
unison in the way that studies of other neurodegenerative disorders, such as
Alzheimer's disease,
have.27 Alterations
in either compartment may produce changes in the other; for example, loss or
reduction of cortical neurons will result in a reduced number of
inter-hemispheric axons, whereas impaired myelination and thus conduction can
result in changes in neuronal size and local
connectivity.32 We
cannot comment on the diagnostic specificity of these changes, as patients
with bipolar disorder have also been described as showing reductions in the
genu and isthmus,35
– more work is needed, including direct comparison between patients with
chronic schizophrenia and bipolar disorder using the same methodology.
Owing to the limitations of volumetric MRI analysis, the alterations in regional size of the corpus callosum in schizophrenia in our study do not allow the determination of the underlying neuropathological changes. A reduction in volume may represent a reduction in number of axons, size of axons or a reduction in their myelin sheaths (thus increasing the density of axons). Aboitiz et al first demonstrated in healthy controls that variance in area was generally the result of alterations to number rather than density of interhemispheric fibres, but only those small-diameter fibres that connect association cortices;36 thus, it may be that regional reductions in genu and isthmus in our study represent a decreased number of inter-hemispheric fibres connecting association cortices. In addition, a negative correlation exists between lateralisation and total fibre number, such that greater hemispheric asymmetry results in a reduced number of callosal fibres;37 the greater loss of callosal area in female than in male patients with psychosis in our study could suggest a reduction of gender-specific lateralisation, consistent with studies positing a loss of asymmetry in both grey matter38 and white matter39 structures in schizophrenia. Fibre number also decreases with age,40 and age x gender interactions, already described for regional callosal volume, have been reported for fibre numbers in the corpus callosum in healthy individuals41 and in people with schizophrenia.40 Some evidence for an alternative explanation (that reduced callosal size is secondary to reduced myelination) comes from studies examining signal intensity in callosal white matter, an index of myelination; reduced signal intensity has been shown in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, but not in major depression or other psychiatric disorders.42,43 Thus, one explanation for our findings is an interaction between the development of psychotic illness and normal neurodevelopment on corpus callosum fibre number and/or myelination.
Conclusions
Our findings suggest that the corpus callosum in schizophrenia differs
significantly in shape from that in healthy individuals, and that some of
these changes are present or occur during the first episode of psychosis. The
relationship between findings of changes in white matter regions that connect
grey matter structures previously demonstrated to show neuropathological and
volumetric change in schizophrenia is intriguing, but these findings alone do
not allow elucidation of which of these pathologies may be primary, or whether
they occur in concert. Longitudinal studies that elucidate the temporal
relationship between white and grey matter change are necessary to shed light
on causal relationships, if any, between changes in these two compartments of
the central nervous system in schizophrenia.
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