Candidate genes and brain cortical morphology in schizophrenia

Abstract

Aim:To investigate associations between schizophrenia candidate gene polymorphisms and regional cortical thickness and volume in patients with schizophrenia and healthy control subjects.Methods:Genotyping was performed using PCR and pyrosequencing techniques. Cortical morphology was analyzed by processing magnetic resonance brain images with the FreeSurfer software package. General linear model analysis was used to study associations between gene variants and cortical thickness in patients and controls, respectively. Regional cortical volumes were defined from automatic cortical parcellations. Our first studies from 96 patients with schizophrenia and 104 healthy control subjects demonstrate that polymorphisms in the brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) gene may be associated with variation in frontal lobe morphology. Associations seem to be stronger in patients with schizophrenia than in healthy controls.