Morphometry of the amygdala in schizophrenia and psychotic bipolar disorder

Pamela B Mahon; David S Lee; Huong Trinh; Daniel Tward; Michael I Miller; Laurent Younes; Patrick E Barta; J Tilak Ratnanather

doi:10.1016/j.schres.2015.02.011

Morphometry of the amygdala in schizophrenia and psychotic bipolar disorder

Schizophr Res. 2015 May;164(1-3):199-202. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2015.02.011. Epub 2015 Mar 9.

Authors

Pamela B Mahon¹, David S Lee², Huong Trinh², Daniel Tward², Michael I Miller³, Laurent Younes⁴, Patrick E Barta³, J Tilak Ratnanather³

Affiliations

¹ Mood Disorders Center, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA. Electronic address: pbelmon2@jhmi.edu.
² Center for Imaging Science, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
³ Center for Imaging Science, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA; Institute for Computational Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
⁴ Center for Imaging Science, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA; Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA; Institute for Computational Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.

Abstract

Volumetric studies suggest smaller amygdalae in subjects with schizophrenia (SZ) than with bipolar disorder (BP). We use morphometry to identify subregions of amygdala differentially affected in SZ and psychotic BP. Based on template centered population analysis, the shape of the amygdala in psychotic BP differs from SZ (pleft=0.044, pright=0.042). Using a high-field 7 T atlas, the bilateral basolateral, basomedial and centromedial subregions and the right lateral subregion were significantly atrophied in SZ compared to psychotic BP (p<0.02). These results suggest that change in shape of amygdala may represent a morphologic feature distinguishing SZ from psychotic BP.

Keywords: Amygdala; Morphometry; Psychotic bipolar disorder; Schizophrenia.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

Adult
Aged
Amygdala / pathology*
Bipolar Disorder / pathology*
Female
Functional Laterality
Humans
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Middle Aged
Schizophrenia / pathology*

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

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