Decreased Gray Matter Volume of Cuneus and Lingual Gyrus in Schizophrenia Patients with Tardive Dyskinesia is Associated with Abnormal Involuntary Movement

Ting Yu,Shuping Tan,Fengmei Fan,Yin Yao Shugart,Fude Yang,Xiangyang Zhang,Yunlong Tan,Xingguang Luo,Chiang-Shan R Li,Yanli Li,L Elliot Hong,Hongbao Cao

doi:10.1038/s41598-018-31186-y

Abstract

Tardive dyskinesia (TD) is a devastating motor disorder associated with the etiological process of schizophrenia or antipsychotic medication treatments. To examine whether cerebral morphological changes may manifest in TD, we used voxel-based morphometry to analyze high-resolution T1-weighted brain structural magnetic resonance images from 32 schizophrenics with TD (TD group), 31 schizophrenics without TD (non-TD group), and 32 healthy controls (HC group). We also assessed psychopathological symptoms with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), and TD severity with the Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale (AIMS). We compared gray matter volumes (GMVs) among groups, and tested for correlations between GMV changes and psychopathological symptoms or TD severity. The results showed significant differences in GMV in the frontal and temporal cortices, insula and cerebellum among the three groups. Brainstem and inferior frontal and precentral gyri GMVs were significantly larger, whereas cuneus and lingual gyrus GMVs were significantly smaller in the TD group as compared to non-TD group. Further, the cuneus and lingual gyrus GMVs were positively correlated with AIMS scores in the TD group. The current results suggest that TD may be associated with the alterations in GMV that are different from that of schizophrenics without TD. Further studies are needed to confirm and to examine the functional significance of these structural findings.

Highlights

Among the regions that showed significant differences between the Tardive dyskinesia (TD) and non-TD groups, the cuneus and lingual gyrus changes in gray matter volumes (GMVs) were positively correlated with Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale (AIMS) scores (r = 0.60, p = 0.001) in the TD group (Table 3 and Fig. 2), which was significant after Bonferroni correction for 4 regions of interest we tested in linear regression (p < 0.004). (Brodmann areas: 17, 18, 23, and 30)
We found that, compared with the non-TD group, the TD group had increased GMVs in the brainstem, inferior frontal gyrus, and precentral gyrus, and reduced volume in the cuneus and lingual gyrus
The GMV changes in the latter areas were positively correlated with AIMS scores in the TD group

Summary

Results

No other PANSS scores were significantly different between the TD and non-TD groups Schizophrenics both with and without TD showed significant GMV loss in multiple cortical areas including frontal and temporal cortices, insula and cerebellum, as compared with controls (p < 0.01). Significant GMV increases in the TD group compared with the non-TD group; in contrast, the cuneus and lingual gyrus demonstrated significant GMV loss in the TD group relative to the non-TD group (Table 2 and Fig. 1c). Among the regions that showed significant differences between the TD and non-TD groups, the cuneus and lingual gyrus changes in GMV were positively correlated with AIMS scores (r = 0.60, p = 0.001) in the TD group (Table 3 and Fig. 2), which was significant after Bonferroni correction for 4 regions of interest we tested in linear regression (p < 0.004).

Discussion

AIMS

Methods