Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 Aug 20;44(5):1091-1099.
doi: 10.1093/schbul/sbx160.

Hippocampal Subregions Across the Psychosis Spectrum

Teresa Vargas  1 , Derek J Dean  2 , Kenneth Juston Osborne  1 , Tina Gupta  1 , Ivanka Ristanovic  1 , Sekine Ozturk  1 , Jessica Turner  3 , Theo G M van Erp  4 , Vijay Anand Mittal  1
Affiliations

Hippocampal Subregions Across the Psychosis Spectrum

Teresa Vargas et al. Schizophr Bull. .

Erratum in

  • Corrigendum.
    [No authors listed] [No authors listed] Schizophr Bull. 2018 Aug 20;44(5):1159. doi: 10.1093/schbul/sby105. Schizophr Bull. 2018. PMID: 30010884 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

Abstract

Introduction: Converging evidence suggests that hippocampal subregions subserve different functions, and are differentially affected by psychosis illness progression. Despite this fact, studies have not often studied subregions cross-sectionally across the psychosis spectrum. Furthermore, little is known about associations between subregion volumes and hippocampus-mediated cognition.

Methods: A total of 222 participants (61 ultra high risk [UHR], 91 schizophrenia [SCZ], and 70 healthy volunteers) underwent a 3T MRI scan, as well as structured clinical interviews and a cognitive battery. Hippocampal subfield analysis was conducted with Freesurfer. We compared subregion volumes across groups, controlling for age, gender, and intracranial volume. We also examined associations in the UHR and SCZ groups between hippocampal subregion volumes and verbal learning, visual learning, and working memory.

Results: We found a dose-dependent relationship such that the SCZ group showed significantly greater subfield volume reductions than the UHR group, which in turn showed significantly greater subfield volume reductions than the healthy volunteer group. We also found associations between subregion volume and cognitive performance in the visual memory, verbal memory, and working memory domains.

Discussion: Our study examined hippocampal subregion volumes cross-sectionally in a large sample across the psychosis spectrum, as well as links with hippocampus-mediated cognitive function. Our findings suggest that hippocampal abnormalities emerge before first psychosis episode onset, and may be etiologically informative.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Diagnostic group comparisons of hippocampal subregion volumes (mm3). ** P < .001, ANCOVA comparing across groups controlling for age, gender, and intracranial volume. Error bars: ±1 SE.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Post-hoc comparisons of subregion volumes by diagnostic group. *P < .05, **P < .01, controlling for intracranial volume, gender, and age; sub, subiculum; 1, healthy volunteer; 2, HR; 3, schizophrenia.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.
Visual learning performance* and subregion volumes (mm3) by diagnostic group. *t Scores, assessed by MATRICS battery Visual Learning Domain.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Kim JJ, Diamond DM. The stressed hippocampus, synaptic plasticity and lost memories. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2002;3:453–462. - PubMed
    1. Derks NA, Krugers HJ, Hoogenraad CC, Joëls M, Sarabdjitsingh RA. Effects of early life stress on synaptic plasticity in the developing hippocampus of male and female rats. PLoS One. 2016;11:e0164551. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Iñiguez SD, Aubry A, Riggs LM et al. . Social defeat stress induces depression-like behavior and alters spine morphology in the hippocampus of adolescent male C57BL/6 mice. Neurobiol Stress. 2016;5:54–64. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Sapolsky RM. Depression, antidepressants, and the shrinking hippocampus. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2001;98:12320–12322. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Andersen SL, Teicher MH. Stress, sensitive periods and maturational events in adolescent depression. Trends Neurosci. 2008;31:183–191. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms