Cognitive impairment in schizophrenia: relationships with cortical thickness in fronto-temporal regions, and dissociability from symptom severity

Abstract

Cognitive impairments are a core and persistent characteristic of schizophrenia with implications for daily functioning. These show only limited response to antipsychotic treatment and their neural basis is not well characterised. Previous studies point to relationships between cortical thickness and cognitive performance in fronto-temporal brain regions in schizophrenia patients (SZH). There is also evidence that these relationships might be independent of symptom severity, suggesting dissociable disease processes. We set out to explore these possibilities in a sample of 70 SZH and 72 age and gender-matched healthy controls (provided by the Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE)). Cortical thickness within fronto-temporal regions implicated by previous work was considered in relation to performance across various cognitive domains (from the MATRICS Cognitive Battery). Compared to controls, SZH had thinner cortices across most fronto-temporal regions and significantly lower performance on all cognitive domains. Robust relationships with cortical thickness were found: visual learning and attention performance correlated with bilateral superior and middle frontal thickness in SZH only. Correlations between attention performance and right transverse temporal thickness were also specific to SZH. Findings point to the importance of these regions for cognitive performance in SZH, possibly reflecting compensatory processes and/or aberrant connectivity. No links to symptom severity were observed in these regions, suggesting these relationships are dissociable from underlying psychotic symptomology. Findings enhance understanding of the brain structural underpinnings and possible aetiology of cognitive impairment in SZH.

Relationships between cognitive performance, clinical insight and regional brain volumes in schizophrenia

“…Consistent with this, Minatogawa-Chang et al 18 found relationships between overall cognitive performance and volume in superior temporal regions, as well as DLPFC and inferior frontal, that were unique to SZH and not present in controls. Similar results have been shown by recent work using cortical thickness measures 62 .…”

Generation of KS-133 as a Novel Bicyclic Peptide with a Potent and Selective VIPR2 Antagonist Activity that Counteracts Cognitive Decline in a Mouse Model of Psychiatric Disorders

“…Cognitive deficits are considered a central feature of schizophrenia ( Rund, 1998 ; Green et al, 2000 ; Bowie and Harvey, 2006 ). Additionally, clinical studies have shown a relationship between cortical thickness and cognitive performance in fronto–temporal brain regions in schizophrenia patients ( Alkan et al, 2021 ) and several different whole brain voxel-based imaging techniques have identified the medial prefrontal cortex as a prominent site of abnormality in schizophrenia ( Pomarol-Clotet et al, 2010 ). Thus, in the present study, we focused on recognition memory and dendritic morphology in the prefrontal cortex of early postnatally VIPR2-activated mice.…”

New Directions for Symptoms and Diagnosis in Schizophrenia

“…Neurocognitive impairment in schizophrenia is also shown to be associated with neroanatomical alterations. A recent study demonstrated that cortical thickness in bilateral superior frontal and right transverse temporal regions correlates positively with cognitive performance (particularly attention/vigilance) suggesting that thickness in these regions is of specific importance for cognitive performance in schizophrenia, possibly reflecting compensatory processes [149]. The prevalence of cognitive impairments in patients with schizophrenia is high, with more than 80% of patients showing significant impairment [150].…”