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Author Spotlight: Investigating Neural Activity of Dentate Gyrus Granule Cells with Miniature Microscope
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Dentate gyrus volume deficit in schizophrenia
Soichiro Nakahara1,2, Jessica A Turner3,4,5, Vince D Calhoun3,5,6,7
1Clinical Translational Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA92617, USA.
Psychological Medicine
|June 4, 2019
Summary
Individuals with schizophrenia exhibit smaller dentate gyrus (DG) volumes, linked to cognitive deficits and specific genes. This highlights DG dysfunction
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychiatry
- Genetics
Background:
- Schizophrenia is characterized by hippocampal volume deficits.
- Specific subregion deficits, cognitive associations, and genetic factors remain unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- Investigate hippocampal formation (HF) subregion volumes in schizophrenia patients versus controls.
- Determine associations between HF subregion volumes, cognition, and genetic factors.
Main Methods:
- Utilized FreeSurfer 6.0 to measure HF subregion volumes in 176 schizophrenia patients and 173 healthy controls.
- Assessed relationships between the most significantly different HF subregion volume, neuropsychological performance, and single-nucleotide polymorphisms.
Main Results:
- Significant group-by-region interaction found in HF subregion volumes.
- Individuals with schizophrenia showed smaller volumes in dentate gyrus (DG), Cornu Ammonis (CA) 4, and other regions.
- DG volume, the most distinct difference, correlated positively with visual memory and processing speed, and genome-wide association analysis identified a novel SNP (rs56055643) near MOBP, with gene-based analyses implicating SLC25A38 and RPSA.
Conclusions:
- Dentate gyrus (DG) dysfunction is integral to schizophrenia pathophysiology.
- DG volume deficits may contribute to cognitive impairments in schizophrenia.
- Genetic factors including MOBP, SLC25A38, and RPSA may underlie these biological mechanisms.
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