Elsevier

Biological Psychiatry

Volume 67, Issue 10, 15 May 2010, Pages 956-964
Biological Psychiatry

Archival Report
Regional Gray Matter Volume in Monozygotic Twins Concordant and Discordant for Schizophrenia

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2009.10.026Get rights and content

Background

Alterations in gray matter volume (GMV) are a robust feature of schizophrenia. However, it is not clear to what extent these abnormalities are correlates of the genetic liability to the disorder, as opposed to environmental factors and the disorder itself. We investigated the influence of genetic and environmental risk on GMV in monozygotic (MZ) twin pairs concordant and discordant for schizophrenia.

Methods

Total and regional GMVs were measured from magnetic resonance images of 80 twins: 14 MZ pairs concordant for schizophrenia, 9 pairs discordant for schizophrenia, and 17 healthy MZ twin pairs.

Results

Total GMV was smaller in twins with schizophrenia (t = −3.17, p = .003) and nonpsychotic cotwins from discordant pairs (t = −2.66, p = .011) than in healthy control twins. Twin pairs concordant for schizophrenia displayed reduced regional GMV in the inferior frontal, medial frontal, and anterior cingulate gyri; the caudate; lingual gyrus; and cerebellum relative to healthy twins (p < .05, corrected). Within discordant pairs, twins with schizophrenia had less GMV than their nonpsychotic cotwins in the insula; superior/medial frontal, pre/postcentral, cingulate, and superior temporal gyri; and the paracentral lobule. There were no significant differences in regional GMV between nonpsychotic cotwins and healthy control subjects.

Conclusions

The presence of schizophrenia was specifically related to reduced GMV in frontal, insular, cingulate, medial parietal, and temporal cortex, over and above effects of genetic risk for the disorder. These changes could be related to the pathophysiology of the disorder itself or to unique environmental factors acting etiologically or because of the illness.

Section snippets

Subjects

Magnetic resonance images of 80 twins were obtained: 14 MZ pairs concordant for schizophrenia, 9 pairs discordant for schizophrenia, and 17 healthy MZ twin pairs. The recruitment strategy has been described in detail before (22), but in brief subjects were referred from across the United Kingdom by their treating clinician. Control twins were recruited from the IoP Volunteer Twin Register and by national media advertisements. All the control subjects were recruited from the community; none were

Demographic and Clinical Variables

There were no significant effects of group on age (p = .71), gender (p = .81), height (.67), age at diagnosis (p = .15), handedness (p = .83), parental socioeconomic status (p = .95), or years of education (p = .1) (Table 1). As expected, twins with schizophrenia (both concordant and discordant) had more severe psychopathology than nonpsychotic cotwins and healthy control twins (p = .0001) (Table 1). Compared with concordant and control twins, discordant twins (psychotic and nonpsychotic)

Discussion

In the present study, we sought to discriminate between the GMV correlates of the genetic risk for schizophrenia and the GMV correlates of the disorder itself in MZ twin pairs who varied in their concordance for schizophrenia. We extended the findings of our own previous MRI studies in twins with schizophrenia (8, 10, 15) by using VBM, a technique that permits analysis of the entire brain at the single-voxel level. This was also the first study to use a whole brain VBM approach to investigate

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