Journal Article

Abnormal corneal nerve morphology and brain volume in patients with schizophrenia

M. Haddad, Peter, Ramadan, Marwan, Mahfoud, Ziyad, Alabdulla, Majid, Ponirakis, Georgios, Ahmed, Amani, Own, Ahmed, Bhagat, Anjushri, Ghandi, Reem, Petropoulos, Ioannis N., Al Hamad, Hanadi, Khan, Adnan, Alshawwaf, Mahmoud K. M., Malik, Rayaz A., Elsotouhy, Ahmed, Gad, Hoda, Vattoth, Surjith, Khoodoruth, Mohamed Adil Shah, Woodruff, Peter W., Currie, James

2022

Overview

Neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative pathology occur in Schizophrenia. This study compared the utility of corneal confocal microscopy (CCM), an ophthalmic imaging technique with MRI brain volumetry in quantifying neuronal pathology and its relationship to cognitive dysfunction and symptom severity in schizophrenia. Thirty-six subjects with schizophrenia and 26 controls underwent assessment of cognitive function, symptom severity, CCM and MRI brain volumetry. Subjects with schizophrenia had lower cognitive function (P ≤ 0.01), corneal nerve fiber density (CNFD), length (CNFL), branch density (CNBD), CNBD:CNFD ratio (P < 0.0001) and cingulate gyrus volume (P < 0.05) but comparable volume of whole brain (P = 0.61), cortical gray matter (P = 0.99), ventricle (P = 0.47), hippocampus (P = 0.10) and amygdala (P = 0.68). Corneal nerve measures and cingulate gyrus volume showed no association with symptom severity (P = 0.35–0.86 and P = 0.50) or cognitive function (P = 0.35–0.86 and P = 0.49). Corneal nerve measures were not associated with metabolic syndrome (P = 0.61–0.64) or diabetes (P = 0.057–0.54). The area under the ROC curve distinguishing subjects with schizophrenia from controls was 88% for CNFL, 84% for CNBD and CNBD:CNFD ratio, 79% for CNFD and 73% for the cingulate gyrus volume. This study has identified a reduction in corneal nerve fibers and cingulate gyrus volume in schizophrenia, but no association with symptom severity or cognitive dysfunction. Corneal nerve loss identified using CCM may act as a rapid non-invasive surrogate marker of neurodegeneration in patients with schizophrenia.

• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group UK,Nature Publishing Group,Nature Portfolio
• Subject: 692/163/2743 / 692/53/2421 / 692/617/375 / Adult / Amygdala / Brain - diagnostic imaging / Brain - pathology / Brain - physiopathology / Case-Control Studies / Cognition / Cognitive ability / Confocal microscopy / Cornea / Cornea - innervation / Cross-Sectional Studies / Diabetes mellitus / Female / Humanities and Social Sciences / Humans / Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Male / Mental disorders / Metabolic disorders / Metabolic syndrome / Microscopy, Confocal / Middle Aged / multidisciplinary / Nerve Fibers - pathology / Neurodegeneration / Neuroimaging / Organ Size / Pathology / Predictive Value of Tests / Reproducibility of Results / Schizophrenia / Schizophrenia - diagnostic imaging / Schizophrenia - pathology / Schizophrenia - physiopathology / Schizophrenic Psychology / Science / Science (multidisciplinary) / Severity of Illness Index / Substantia grisea / Ventricle / Ventricles (cerebral) / Young Adult