Subcortical brain iron deposition in individuals with schizophrenia

Susan F. Sonnenschein, Ashley C. Parr, Bart Larsen, Finnegan J. Calabro, William Foran, Shaun M. Eack, Beatriz Luna, Deepak K. Sarpal

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

10 Scopus citations

Abstract

Subcortical structures play a critical role the pathophysiology and treatment of schizophrenia (SZ), yet underlying neurophysiological processes, in vivo, remain largely unexplored. Brain tissue iron, which can be measured with magnetic resonance-based methods, is a crucial component of a variety of neuronal functions including neurotransmitter synthesis. Here we used a proxy measure of tissue iron to examine basal ganglia and thalamic structures in an adult cohort of individuals with chronic SZ. A publicly available dataset of 72 individuals with SZ between ages 18 and 65, and a matched sample of 74 healthy control (HC) participants were included. A novel method that calculated the inverse-normalized T2*-weighted contrast (1/nT2*) was used to estimate brain iron within the basal ganglia and thalamus. Between group, age- and sex-related differences in 1/nT2* were examined, in addition to correlations with measures of psychopathology and cognition. Individuals with SZ showed greater 1/nT2* (iron index) compared to HCs in the thalamus (p < 0.01, FWE corrected). Age-related 1/nT2* accumulation was noted in regions of the basal ganglia, coinciding with prior work, and prominent sex-differences were noted in the caudate and thalamus (p < 0.01, FWE corrected). No significant relationship was observed between 1/nT2* and measures of neurocognition or psychopathology. Overall, our findings characterize a non-invasive proxy measure of tissue iron in SZ and highlight thalamic iron accumulation as a potential marker of illness.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)272-278
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of Psychiatric Research
Volume151
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 2022
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier Ltd

Keywords

  • Adulthood
  • Basal ganglia
  • Cognition
  • Psychopathology
  • Schizophrenia
  • Sex-differences
  • Thalamus
  • Tissue iron

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