The following is a summary of “Differences in the neural correlates of schizophrenia with positive and negative formal thought disorder in patients with schizophrenia in the ENIGMA dataset,” published in the April 2024 issue of Psychiatry by Sharkey et al.
Formal thought disorder (FTD) is a significant aspect of schizophrenia. However, the relationship between different types of FTD symptoms and brain volume changes in schizophrenia remains unclear, especially in large groups of patients.
Researchers conducted a retrospective study to understand how FTD relates to brain anatomy in schizophrenia and investigated the cellular basis using virtual histology techniques.
They used the ENIGMA dataset of the Schizophrenia working group, including 752 schizophrenia patients and 1,256 controls. They focused on positive, negative, and total FTD symptoms based on previous clinical and brain imaging studies. Virtual histology tools were used to study brain structure changes associated with FTD and relate them to cellular distributions in cortical regions.
The results showed distinct neural networks associated with positive and negative FTD. Both networks involved brain regions from the frontal to the occipital and amygdalar areas. However, negative FTD spared the orbitofrontal cortex thickness compared to positive FTD, which also affected lateral temporal cortices. Virtual histology revealed unique genetic fingerprints linked to each FTD dimension: negative FTD was associated with neuronal and astrocyte markers, while positive FTD also showed connections with microglial cell types.
Investigators concluded that this is an essential step towards understanding how FTD is linked to changes in brain structure and cellular composition. By uncovering these connections, we can gain deeper insights into the underlying mechanisms of this syndrome.
Source: nature.com/articles/s41380-024-02563-z
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