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Cambridge University Press, Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences, 4(25), p. 312-316, 2016

DOI: 10.1017/s2045796016000275

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Neuroanatomical voxel-based profile of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder

Journal article published in 2016 by E. Maggioni, M. Bellani ORCID, A. C. Altamura, P. Brambilla
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

Although schizophrenia (SCZ) and bipolar disorder (BD) share elements of pathology (Ellison-Wright and Bullmore, 2009), the neural mechanisms underlying these disorders are still under investigation. Up until now, many neuroimaging studies investigated the brain structural differences of SCZ and BD compared with healthy controls (HC), trying to identify the possible neuroanatomical markers for the two disorders. However, just a few studies focused on the brain structural changes between the two diagnoses. The present review summarises the findings of the voxel-based grey matter (GM) comparisons between SCZ and BD, with the objective to highlight the possible consistent anatomical differences between the two disorders. While the comparisons between patients and HC highlighted overlapping areas of GM reduction in insula and anterior cingulate cortex, the SCZ–BD comparisons suggest the presence of more generalised GM deficits in SCZ compared with BD. Indeed, in a number of studies, SCZ patients showed lower GM volumes than BD patients in fronto-temporal cortex, thalamus, hippocampus and amygdala. Conversely, only a couple of studies reported GM deficits in BD compared with SCZ, both at the level of cerebellum. In summary, the two disorders exhibit both common and specific neuroanatomical characteristics, whose knowledge is mandatory to develop innovative diagnostic and treatment strategies.