Hippocampal volume loss is prominent in first episode schizophrenia (FES) and has been associated with poor clinical outcomes and with BDNF genotype; antidepressants are believed to reverse hippocampal volume loss via release of BDNF. In a 12-month, placebo-controlled add-on trial of the antidepressant, citalopram, during the maintenance phase of FES, negative symptoms were improved with citalopram. We now report results of structural brain imaging at baseline and 6 months in 63 FES patients (34 in citalopram group) from the trial to assess whether protection against hippocampal volume loss contributed to improved negative symptoms with citalopram. Hippocampal volumetric integrity (HVI) did not change significantly in the citalopram or placebo group and did not differ between treatment groups, whereas citalopram was associated with greater volume loss of the right CA1 subfield. Change in cortical thickness was associated with SANS change in 4 regions (left rostral anterior cingulate, right frontal pole, right cuneus, and right transverse temporal) but none differed between treatment groups. Our findings suggest that minimal hippocampal volume loss occurs after stabilization on antipsychotic treatment and that citalopram's potential benefit for negative symptoms is unlikely to result from protection against hippocampal volume loss or cortical thinning.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8231472PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pscychresns.2021.111286DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

hippocampal volume
24
volume loss
24
negative symptoms
12
citalopram hippocampal
8
protection hippocampal
8
treatment groups
8
citalopram
7
volume
7
hippocampal
6
loss
6

Similar Publications

Objectives: To explore the neuroprotective mechanism of electroacupuncture at the acupoints and in rats with cerebral ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury.

Methods: Forty-eight male SD rats were equally randomized into sham operation group, cerebral IR model group, acupoint electroacupuncture group and non-acupoint acupuncture group. In the latter 3 groups, cerebral focal ischemic injury was induced using the Longa method; in the two electroacupuncture groups, electroacupuncture was performed either at the acupoints and or at non-acupoint sites for 7 days.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Alzheimer's disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disease affecting memory, language, and thinking with no curative treatment. Symptoms appear gradually, and pathological brain changes may occur twenty years before the physical and psychological signs, pointing to the urgent development of preventive interventions. Physical activity has been investigated as a preventive tool to defeat the main biological features of AD: pathological amyloid protein plaques, tau tangles, myelin degeneration, and iron deposits in the brain.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Age-related atrophy of the human hippocampus and the enthorinal cortex starts accelerating at around age 60. Due to the contributions of these regions to many cognitive functions seamlessly used in everyday life, this can heavily impact the lives of elderly people. The hippocampus is not a unitary structure, and mechanisms of its age-related decline appear to differentially affect its subfields.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background And Purpose: The magnetic resonance images (MRIs) ability of lesion detection in epilepsy is crucial for a diagnosis and surgical outcome. Using automated artificial intelligence (AI)-based tools for measuring cortical thickness and brain volume originally developed for dementia, we aimed to identify whether it could lateralize epilepsy with normal MRIs.

Methods: Non-lesional 3-Tesla MRIs of 428 patients diagnosed with focal epilepsy, based on semiology and electroencephalography findings, were analyzed.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Hippocampal avoidance during prophylactic cranial irradiation (HA-PCI) is proposed to reduce neurocognitive decline, while preserving the benefits of PCI. We evaluated whether (HA-)PCI induces changes in white matter (WM) microstructure and whether sparing the hippocampus has an impact on preserving brain network topology. Additionally, we evaluated associations between topological metrics with hippocampal volume and neuropsychological outcomes.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!