Substantial evidence supports the neurodevelopmental hypothesis of schizophrenia.Meanwhile,progressive neurodegenerative processes have also been reported,leading to the hypothesis that neurodegeneration is a characte...Substantial evidence supports the neurodevelopmental hypothesis of schizophrenia.Meanwhile,progressive neurodegenerative processes have also been reported,leading to the hypothesis that neurodegeneration is a characteristic component in the neuropathology of schizophrenia.However,a major challenge for the neurodegenerative hypothesis is that antipsychotic drugs used by patients have profound impact on brain structures.To clarify this potential confounding factor,we measured the cortical thickness across the whole brain using highresolution T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging in 145 first-episode and treatment-naive patients with schizophrenia and 147 healthy controls.The results showed that,in the patient group,the frontal,temporal,parietal,and cingulate gyri displayed a significant age-related reduction of cortical thickness.In the control group,age-related cortical thickness reduction was mostly located in the frontal,temporal,and cingulate gyri,albeit to a lesser extent.Importantly,relative to healthy controls,patients exhibited a significantly smaller age-related cortical thickness in the anterior cingulate,inferior temporal,and insular gyri in the right hemisphere.These results provide evidence supporting the existence of neurodegenerative processes in schizophrenia and suggest that these processes already occur in the early stage of the illness.展开更多
Dear Editor,Schizophrenia is a chronic and debilitating brain disorder,which has a strong genetic component with heritability ranging from 66%to 85%[1,2].Currently,antipsychotic drugs remain the most effective treatme...Dear Editor,Schizophrenia is a chronic and debilitating brain disorder,which has a strong genetic component with heritability ranging from 66%to 85%[1,2].Currently,antipsychotic drugs remain the most effective treatment for the psychotic symptoms of schizophrenia[3].Because of the severe sideeffects of first-generation antipsychotics(FGAs),secondgeneration antipsychotics(SGAs)have become more widely used in the treatment of schizophrenia.展开更多
基金supported by the National Basic Research Development Program of China (2016YFC0904300)National Natural Science Foundation of China (81630030, 81130024 and 81528008)+1 种基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China/Research Grants Council of Hong Kong Joint Research Scheme (81461168029)the ‘‘135’’ Project for Disciplines of Excellence, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, China (ZY2016103 and ZY2016203)
文摘Substantial evidence supports the neurodevelopmental hypothesis of schizophrenia.Meanwhile,progressive neurodegenerative processes have also been reported,leading to the hypothesis that neurodegeneration is a characteristic component in the neuropathology of schizophrenia.However,a major challenge for the neurodegenerative hypothesis is that antipsychotic drugs used by patients have profound impact on brain structures.To clarify this potential confounding factor,we measured the cortical thickness across the whole brain using highresolution T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging in 145 first-episode and treatment-naive patients with schizophrenia and 147 healthy controls.The results showed that,in the patient group,the frontal,temporal,parietal,and cingulate gyri displayed a significant age-related reduction of cortical thickness.In the control group,age-related cortical thickness reduction was mostly located in the frontal,temporal,and cingulate gyri,albeit to a lesser extent.Importantly,relative to healthy controls,patients exhibited a significantly smaller age-related cortical thickness in the anterior cingulate,inferior temporal,and insular gyri in the right hemisphere.These results provide evidence supporting the existence of neurodegenerative processes in schizophrenia and suggest that these processes already occur in the early stage of the illness.
基金supported by the National Basic Research Development Program (2016YFC0904300)the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81630030 and 81461168029)the 1.3.5 Project for Disciplines of Excellence of West China Hospital, Sichuan University (ZY2016103 and ZY2016203), China
文摘Dear Editor,Schizophrenia is a chronic and debilitating brain disorder,which has a strong genetic component with heritability ranging from 66%to 85%[1,2].Currently,antipsychotic drugs remain the most effective treatment for the psychotic symptoms of schizophrenia[3].Because of the severe sideeffects of first-generation antipsychotics(FGAs),secondgeneration antipsychotics(SGAs)have become more widely used in the treatment of schizophrenia.
