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Published on: November 27, 2019
Gray Matter Alterations in Pediatric Schizophrenia and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: A Systematic Review and
Jingran Liu1, Fang Wen1, Junjuan Yan1
1Department of Psychiatry, Beijing Children's Hospital, Capital Medical University, National Centre for Children's Health, Beijing, China.
Insights
Pediatric schizophrenia patients show decreased gray matter volume in the prefrontal cortex and temporal regions. Obsessive-compulsive disorder patients exhibit increased gray matter volume in the prefrontal cortex and striatum.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychiatry
- Radiology
Background:
- Schizophrenia (SCZ) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are distinct psychiatric disorders.
- Understanding neuroanatomical differences is crucial for diagnosis and treatment.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare gray matter alterations in pediatric SCZ and OCD patients.
- To identify commonalities and differences in structural brain changes.
Main Methods:
- Systematic literature search across PubMed, Elsevier, and CNKI.
- Activation Likelihood Estimation (ALE) meta-analysis of brain gray matter volume (GMV).
Main Results:
- SCZ: Decreased GMV in prefrontal cortex (PFC), temporal cortex, and insula.
- OCD: Increased GMV in PFC and striatum; decreased GMV in parietal cortex.
- PFC abnormalities observed in both SCZ and OCD pediatric patients.
Conclusions:
- PFC gray matter abnormalities may suggest shared pathophysiology between pediatric SCZ and OCD.
- SCZ structural alterations involve fronto-temporal and cortico-insula circuits.
- OCD structural alterations involve prefrontal-parietal and prefrontal-striatal circuits.
Objective:
The aim of this study is comparing gray matter alterations in SCZ pediatric patients with those suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) based on a systematic review and an activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis.
Methods:
A systematic literature search was performed in PubMed, Elsevier, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI). A systematic review and an ALE meta-analysis were performed to quantitatively examine brain gray matter alterations.
Results:
Children and adolescents with schizophrenia had decreased gray matter volume (GMV) mainly in the prefrontal cortex (PFC), temporal cortex (such as the middle temporal gyrus and transverse temporal gyrus), and insula, while children and adolescents with OCD mainly had increased GMV in the PFC and the striatum (including the lentiform nucleus and caudate nucleus), and decreased GMV in the parietal cortex.
Conclusions:
Our results suggest that gray matter abnormalities in the PFC may indicate homogeneity between the two diseases. In children and adolescents, structural alterations in schizophrenia mainly involve the fronto-temporal and cortico-insula circuits, whereas those in OCD mainly involve the prefrontal-parietal and the prefrontal-striatal circuits.
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