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Surface morphology of the orbitofrontal cortex in individuals at risk of psychosis: a multicenter study

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Abstract

Changes in the surface morphology of the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), such as a fewer orbital sulci and altered sulcogyral pattern of the ‘H-shaped’ orbital sulcus, have been reported in schizophrenia, possibly reflecting abnormal neurodevelopment during gestation. However, whether high-risk subjects for developing psychosis also exhibit these gross morphologic anomalies is not well documented. This multicenter MRI study from four scanning sites in Japan investigated the distribution of the number of intermediate and posterior orbital sulci, as well as the OFC sulcogyral pattern, in 125 individuals with an at-risk mental state (ARMS) [of whom 22 later developed psychosis (ARMS-P) and 89 did not (ARMS-NP)] and 110 healthy controls. The ARMS group as a whole had a significantly lower number of intermediate and posterior orbital sulci compared with the controls, which was associated with prodromal symptomatology. However, there was no group difference in OFC pattern distribution. The ARMS-P and -NP groups did not differ in OFC surface morphology. These results suggest that gross morphology of the OFC in high-risk subjects may at least partly reflect neurodevelopmental pathology related to vulnerability to psychosis.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number JP26461739 to TT, JP26461738 to YT, JP24390281 to MS, JP16H06395, 16H06399, 16K21720, and 16H06280 to KK, the SENSHIN Medical Research Foundation [Psychiatry 16 (general): 2–30] to YT, and by the Health and Labour Sciences Research Grants for Comprehensive Research on Persons with Disabilities from the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED) Grant Number 16dk0307029h0003 to MS, KM and MM The study was also supported in part by the Brain Mapping by Integrated Neurotechnologies for Disease Studies (Brain/MINDS) from AMED Grant Number 17dm0207004h0004, UTokyo Center for Integrative Science of Human Behavior (CiSHuB), and by World Premier International Research Center Initiative (WPI), MEXT, Japan to KK. The funding agencies had no role in the design and conduct of the study, collection, management, analysis and interpretation of the data, or preparation, review and approval of the manuscript. The authors are grateful to the staff of the Consultation and Support Service in Toyama (CAST), Il Bosco of Toho University Omori Medical Center, Sendai At-risk Mental State and First Episode (SAFE) service, and the University of Tokyo Hospital for their assistance in the diagnostic and psychopathological assessments of the study participants.

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Correspondence to Mihoko Nakamura.

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There are no conflicts of interest for any of the authors including any financial, personal or other relationships with other people or organizations within 3 years of beginning the submitted work that could inappropriately influence, or be perceived to influence, our work.

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Nakamura, M., Takahashi, T., Takayanagi, Y. et al. Surface morphology of the orbitofrontal cortex in individuals at risk of psychosis: a multicenter study. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 269, 397–406 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-018-0890-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-018-0890-6

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