Christoffer Rahm1, Benny Liberg2, Greg Reckless3, Olga Ousdal3, Ingrid Melle3, Ole A Andreassen3, Ingrid Agartz3. 1. 1Department of Medicine,Karolinska Institutet,Stockholm,Sweden. 2. 2Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre,Department of Psychiatry,The University of Melbourne,Melbourne,VIC,Australia. 3. 4Division of Mental Health and Addiction,Institute of Clinical Medicine,University of Oslo,Norway.
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: Negative symptoms in schizophrenia have been associated with structural and functional alterations of the amygdala. We hypothesised that there would be between-group differences in amygdala volume and neural activation patterns during processing of affective stimuli among patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls. We further hypothesised correlations between neuroimaging metrics and clinical ratings of negative symptoms in patients with schizophrenia. METHODS: We used structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging to assess volume and neural activation of the amygdala in 28 patients with schizophrenia and 28 healthy controls. RESULTS: We found no between-group differences in amygdala volume or neural activation. However, we found a significant negative correlation between emotional blunting and neural activation in the left amygdala during processing of positive affect. We also found a significant negative correlation between stereotyped thinking and the volume of right amygdala. CONCLUSION: Our findings implicate the amygdala in a subgroup of negative symptoms in schizophrenia that are characterised by reduced expression with blunted affect and stereotyped thinking.
OBJECTIVES: Negative symptoms in schizophrenia have been associated with structural and functional alterations of the amygdala. We hypothesised that there would be between-group differences in amygdala volume and neural activation patterns during processing of affective stimuli among patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls. We further hypothesised correlations between neuroimaging metrics and clinical ratings of negative symptoms in patients with schizophrenia. METHODS: We used structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging to assess volume and neural activation of the amygdala in 28 patients with schizophrenia and 28 healthy controls. RESULTS: We found no between-group differences in amygdala volume or neural activation. However, we found a significant negative correlation between emotional blunting and neural activation in the left amygdala during processing of positive affect. We also found a significant negative correlation between stereotyped thinking and the volume of right amygdala. CONCLUSION: Our findings implicate the amygdala in a subgroup of negative symptoms in schizophrenia that are characterised by reduced expression with blunted affect and stereotyped thinking.
Entities:
Keywords:
amygdala; functional magnetic resonance imaging; magnetic resonance imaging; schizophrenia
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