A Longitudinal Study of Alterations of Hippocampal Volumes and Serum BDNF Levels in Association to Atypical Antipsychotics in a Sample of First-Episode Patients with Schizophrenia

Emmanouil Rizos; Matilda A. Papathanasiou; Panagiota G. Michalopoulou; Efstathios Laskos; Aggeliki Mazioti; Anastasia Kastania; Konstantina Vasilopoulou; Paraskevi Nikolaidou; Dimitrios Margaritis; Charalabos Papageorgiou; Ioannis Liappas

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0087997

A Longitudinal Study of Alterations of Hippocampal Volumes and Serum BDNF Levels in Association to Atypical Antipsychotics in a Sample of First-Episode Patients with Schizophrenia

Emmanouil Rizos^*, Matilda A. Papathanasiou, Panagiota G. Michalopoulou, Efstathios Laskos, Aggeliki Mazioti, Anastasia Kastania, Konstantina Vasilopoulou, Paraskevi Nikolaidou, Dimitrios Margaritis, Charalabos Papageorgiou, Ioannis Liappas

^*Corresponding author for this work

Psychosis Studies

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

30 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Background: Schizophrenia is associated with structural and functional abnormalities of the hippocampus, which have been suggested to play an important role in the formation and emergence of schizophrenia syndrome. Patients with schizophrenia exhibit significant bilateral hippocampal volume reduction and progressive hippocampal volume decrease in first-episode patients with schizophrenia has been shown in many neuroimaging studies. Dysfunction of the neurotrophic system has been implicated in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. The initiation of antipsychotic medication alters the levels of serum Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) levels. However it is unclear whether treatment with antipsychotics is associated with alterations of hippocampal volume and BDNF levels.

Methods: In the present longitudinal study we investigated the association between serum BDNF levels and hippocampal volumes in a sample of fourteen first-episode drug-naive patients with schizophrenia (FEP). MRI scans, BDNF and clinical measurements were performed twice: at baseline before the initiation of antipsychotic treatment and 8 months later, while the patients were receiving monotherapy with second generation antipsychotics (SGAs).

Results: We found that left hippocampal volume was decreased (corrected left HV [t = 2.977, df = 13, p = .011] at follow-up; We also found that the higher the BDNF levels change the higher were the differences of corrected left hippocampus after 8 months of treatment with atypical antipsychotics (Pearson r = 0.597, p = 0.024).

Conclusions: The association of BDNF with hippocampal volume alterations in schizophrenia merits further investigation and replication in larger longitudinal studies.

Original language	English
Article number	e87997
Number of pages	8
Journal	PL o S One
Volume	9
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0087997
Publication status	Published - 13 Feb 2014

Keywords

LONG-TERM TREATMENT
NEUROTROPHIC FACTOR
RAT-BRAIN
BIPOLAR DISORDER
MESSENGER-RNA
ANIMAL-MODELS
WEIGHT-GAIN
DRUGS
METAANALYSIS
PSYCHOSIS

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Rizos, E., Papathanasiou, M. A., Michalopoulou, P. G., Laskos, E., Mazioti, A., Kastania, A., Vasilopoulou, K., Nikolaidou, P., Margaritis, D., Papageorgiou, C., & Liappas, I. (2014). A Longitudinal Study of Alterations of Hippocampal Volumes and Serum BDNF Levels in Association to Atypical Antipsychotics in a Sample of First-Episode Patients with Schizophrenia. PL o S One , 9(2), Article e87997. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0087997

@article{c3f19146921144e7b8220769b5d9ab05,

title = "A Longitudinal Study of Alterations of Hippocampal Volumes and Serum BDNF Levels in Association to Atypical Antipsychotics in a Sample of First-Episode Patients with Schizophrenia",

abstract = "Background: Schizophrenia is associated with structural and functional abnormalities of the hippocampus, which have been suggested to play an important role in the formation and emergence of schizophrenia syndrome. Patients with schizophrenia exhibit significant bilateral hippocampal volume reduction and progressive hippocampal volume decrease in first-episode patients with schizophrenia has been shown in many neuroimaging studies. Dysfunction of the neurotrophic system has been implicated in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. The initiation of antipsychotic medication alters the levels of serum Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) levels. However it is unclear whether treatment with antipsychotics is associated with alterations of hippocampal volume and BDNF levels.Methods: In the present longitudinal study we investigated the association between serum BDNF levels and hippocampal volumes in a sample of fourteen first-episode drug-naive patients with schizophrenia (FEP). MRI scans, BDNF and clinical measurements were performed twice: at baseline before the initiation of antipsychotic treatment and 8 months later, while the patients were receiving monotherapy with second generation antipsychotics (SGAs).Results: We found that left hippocampal volume was decreased (corrected left HV [t = 2.977, df = 13, p = .011] at follow-up; We also found that the higher the BDNF levels change the higher were the differences of corrected left hippocampus after 8 months of treatment with atypical antipsychotics (Pearson r = 0.597, p = 0.024).Conclusions: The association of BDNF with hippocampal volume alterations in schizophrenia merits further investigation and replication in larger longitudinal studies.",

keywords = "LONG-TERM TREATMENT, NEUROTROPHIC FACTOR, RAT-BRAIN, BIPOLAR DISORDER, MESSENGER-RNA, ANIMAL-MODELS, WEIGHT-GAIN, DRUGS, METAANALYSIS, PSYCHOSIS",

author = "Emmanouil Rizos and Papathanasiou, {Matilda A.} and Michalopoulou, {Panagiota G.} and Efstathios Laskos and Aggeliki Mazioti and Anastasia Kastania and Konstantina Vasilopoulou and Paraskevi Nikolaidou and Dimitrios Margaritis and Charalabos Papageorgiou and Ioannis Liappas",

year = "2014",

month = feb,

day = "13",

doi = "10.1371/journal.pone.0087997",

language = "English",

volume = "9",

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issn = "1932-6203",

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Rizos, E, Papathanasiou, MA, Michalopoulou, PG, Laskos, E, Mazioti, A, Kastania, A, Vasilopoulou, K, Nikolaidou, P, Margaritis, D, Papageorgiou, C & Liappas, I 2014, 'A Longitudinal Study of Alterations of Hippocampal Volumes and Serum BDNF Levels in Association to Atypical Antipsychotics in a Sample of First-Episode Patients with Schizophrenia', PL o S One , vol. 9, no. 2, e87997. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0087997

A Longitudinal Study of Alterations of Hippocampal Volumes and Serum BDNF Levels in Association to Atypical Antipsychotics in a Sample of First-Episode Patients with Schizophrenia. / Rizos, Emmanouil; Papathanasiou, Matilda A.; Michalopoulou, Panagiota G. et al.
In: PL o S One , Vol. 9, No. 2, e87997, 13.02.2014.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

TY - JOUR

T1 - A Longitudinal Study of Alterations of Hippocampal Volumes and Serum BDNF Levels in Association to Atypical Antipsychotics in a Sample of First-Episode Patients with Schizophrenia

AU - Rizos, Emmanouil

AU - Papathanasiou, Matilda A.

AU - Michalopoulou, Panagiota G.

AU - Laskos, Efstathios

AU - Mazioti, Aggeliki

AU - Kastania, Anastasia

AU - Vasilopoulou, Konstantina

AU - Nikolaidou, Paraskevi

AU - Margaritis, Dimitrios

AU - Papageorgiou, Charalabos

AU - Liappas, Ioannis

PY - 2014/2/13

Y1 - 2014/2/13

N2 - Background: Schizophrenia is associated with structural and functional abnormalities of the hippocampus, which have been suggested to play an important role in the formation and emergence of schizophrenia syndrome. Patients with schizophrenia exhibit significant bilateral hippocampal volume reduction and progressive hippocampal volume decrease in first-episode patients with schizophrenia has been shown in many neuroimaging studies. Dysfunction of the neurotrophic system has been implicated in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. The initiation of antipsychotic medication alters the levels of serum Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) levels. However it is unclear whether treatment with antipsychotics is associated with alterations of hippocampal volume and BDNF levels.Methods: In the present longitudinal study we investigated the association between serum BDNF levels and hippocampal volumes in a sample of fourteen first-episode drug-naive patients with schizophrenia (FEP). MRI scans, BDNF and clinical measurements were performed twice: at baseline before the initiation of antipsychotic treatment and 8 months later, while the patients were receiving monotherapy with second generation antipsychotics (SGAs).Results: We found that left hippocampal volume was decreased (corrected left HV [t = 2.977, df = 13, p = .011] at follow-up; We also found that the higher the BDNF levels change the higher were the differences of corrected left hippocampus after 8 months of treatment with atypical antipsychotics (Pearson r = 0.597, p = 0.024).Conclusions: The association of BDNF with hippocampal volume alterations in schizophrenia merits further investigation and replication in larger longitudinal studies.

AB - Background: Schizophrenia is associated with structural and functional abnormalities of the hippocampus, which have been suggested to play an important role in the formation and emergence of schizophrenia syndrome. Patients with schizophrenia exhibit significant bilateral hippocampal volume reduction and progressive hippocampal volume decrease in first-episode patients with schizophrenia has been shown in many neuroimaging studies. Dysfunction of the neurotrophic system has been implicated in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. The initiation of antipsychotic medication alters the levels of serum Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) levels. However it is unclear whether treatment with antipsychotics is associated with alterations of hippocampal volume and BDNF levels.Methods: In the present longitudinal study we investigated the association between serum BDNF levels and hippocampal volumes in a sample of fourteen first-episode drug-naive patients with schizophrenia (FEP). MRI scans, BDNF and clinical measurements were performed twice: at baseline before the initiation of antipsychotic treatment and 8 months later, while the patients were receiving monotherapy with second generation antipsychotics (SGAs).Results: We found that left hippocampal volume was decreased (corrected left HV [t = 2.977, df = 13, p = .011] at follow-up; We also found that the higher the BDNF levels change the higher were the differences of corrected left hippocampus after 8 months of treatment with atypical antipsychotics (Pearson r = 0.597, p = 0.024).Conclusions: The association of BDNF with hippocampal volume alterations in schizophrenia merits further investigation and replication in larger longitudinal studies.

KW - LONG-TERM TREATMENT

KW - NEUROTROPHIC FACTOR

KW - RAT-BRAIN

KW - BIPOLAR DISORDER

KW - MESSENGER-RNA

KW - ANIMAL-MODELS

KW - WEIGHT-GAIN

KW - DRUGS

KW - METAANALYSIS

KW - PSYCHOSIS

U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0087997

DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0087997

M3 - Article

SN - 1932-6203

VL - 9

JO - PL o S One

JF - PL o S One

IS - 2

M1 - e87997

ER -

A Longitudinal Study of Alterations of Hippocampal Volumes and Serum BDNF Levels in Association to Atypical Antipsychotics in a Sample of First-Episode Patients with Schizophrenia

Abstract

Keywords

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