The Risk for Schizophrenia-Bipolar Spectrum: Does the Apple Fall Close to the Tree? A Narrative Review

Overview

Journal Int J Environ Res Public Health

Publisher MDPI

Specialties Environmental Health
Public Health

Date 2023 Aug 12

PMID 37569080

Authors

Giulia Cattarinussi

Alessio A Gugliotta

Fabio Sambataro

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Schizophrenia (SCZ) and bipolar disorder (BD) are severe psychiatric disorders that share clinical features and several risk genes. Important information about their genetic underpinnings arises from intermediate phenotypes (IPs), quantifiable biological traits that are more prevalent in unaffected relatives (RELs) of patients compared to the general population and co-segregate with the disorders. Within IPs, neuropsychological functions and neuroimaging measures have the potential to provide useful insight into the pathophysiology of SCZ and BD. In this context, the present narrative review provides a comprehensive overview of the available evidence on deficits in neuropsychological functions and neuroimaging alterations in unaffected relatives of SCZ (SCZ-RELs) and BD (BD-RELs). Overall, deficits in cognitive functions including intelligence, memory, attention, executive functions, and social cognition could be considered IPs for SCZ. Although the picture for cognitive alterations in BD-RELs is less defined, BD-RELs seem to present worse performances compared to controls in executive functioning, including adaptable thinking, planning, self-monitoring, self-control, and working memory. Among neuroimaging markers, SCZ-RELs appear to be characterized by structural and functional alterations in the cortico-striatal-thalamic network, while BD risk seems to be associated with abnormalities in the prefrontal, temporal, thalamic, and limbic regions. In conclusion, SCZ-RELs and BD-RELs present a pattern of cognitive and neuroimaging alterations that lie between patients and healthy individuals. Similar abnormalities in SCZ-RELs and BD-RELs may be the phenotypic expression of the shared genetic mechanisms underlying both disorders, while the specificities in neuropsychological and neuroimaging profiles may be associated with the differential symptom expression in the two disorders.

Citing Articles

Neuropsychological performance in women at risk of postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis.

Cattarinussi G, Segre G, Biaggi A, Hazelgrove K, Sambataro F, Russo M Arch Womens Ment Health. 2024; 28(1):55-65.

PMID: 39214910 PMC: 11762223. DOI: 10.1007/s00737-024-01510-9.

References

Bora E, Ozerdem A . Social cognition in first-degree relatives of patients with bipolar disorder: A meta-analysis. Eur Neuropsychopharmacol. 2017; 27(4):293-300. DOI: 10.1016/j.euroneuro.2017.02.009. View

Soler J, Lera-Miguel S, Lazaro L, Calvo R, Ferentinos P, Fananas L . Familial aggregation analysis of cognitive performance in early-onset bipolar disorder. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2020; 29(12):1705-1716. DOI: 10.1007/s00787-020-01486-8. View

Cooper D, Barker V, Radua J, Fusar-Poli P, Lawrie S . Multimodal voxel-based meta-analysis of structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging studies in those at elevated genetic risk of developing schizophrenia. Psychiatry Res. 2013; 221(1):69-77. DOI: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2013.07.008. View

Oertel-Knochel V, Knochel C, Rotarska-Jagiela A, Reinke B, Prvulovic D, Haenschel C . Association between psychotic symptoms and cortical thickness reduction across the schizophrenia spectrum. Cereb Cortex. 2012; 23(1):61-70. DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhr380. View

Heinrichs R, Zakzanis K . Neurocognitive deficit in schizophrenia: a quantitative review of the evidence. Neuropsychology. 1998; 12(3):426-45. DOI: 10.1037//0894-4105.12.3.426. View

Seidman L, Pousada-Casal A, Scala S, Meyer E, Stone W, Thermenos H . Auditory Vigilance and Working Memory in Youth at Familial Risk for Schizophrenia or Affective Psychosis in the Harvard Adolescent Family High Risk Study. J Int Neuropsychol Soc. 2016; 22(10):1026-1037. DOI: 10.1017/S1355617716000242. View

Besteher B, Brambilla P, Nenadic I . Twin studies of brain structure and cognition in schizophrenia. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2019; 109:103-113. DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.12.021. View

Whyte M, Brett C, Harrison L, Byrne M, Miller P, Lawrie S . Neuropsychological performance over time in people at high risk of developing schizophrenia and controls. Biol Psychiatry. 2006; 59(8):730-9. DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2005.08.028. View

Ramsay I, Mueller B, Ma Y, Shen C, Sponheim S . Thalamocortical connectivity and its relationship with symptoms and cognition across the psychosis continuum. Psychol Med. 2022; 53(12):5582-5591. DOI: 10.1017/S0033291722002793. View

10.

Kuo S, Roalf D, Prasad K, Musket C, Rupert P, Wood J . Age-dependent effects of schizophrenia genetic risk on cortical thickness and cortical surface area: Evaluating evidence for neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative models of schizophrenia. J Psychopathol Clin Sci. 2022; 131(6):674-688. PMC: 9339500. DOI: 10.1037/abn0000765. View

11.

Myles-Worsley M, Ord L, Ngiralmau H, Weaver S, Blailes F, Faraone S . The Palau Early Psychosis Study: neurocognitive functioning in high-risk adolescents. Schizophr Res. 2006; 89(1-3):299-307. DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2006.08.003. View

12.

Li W, Zhou F, Zhang L, Ng C, Ungvari G, Li J . Comparison of cognitive dysfunction between schizophrenia and bipolar disorder patients: A meta-analysis of comparative studies. J Affect Disord. 2020; 274:652-661. DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2020.04.051. View

13.

Meda S, Gill A, Stevens M, Lorenzoni R, Glahn D, Calhoun V . Differences in resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging functional network connectivity between schizophrenia and psychotic bipolar probands and their unaffected first-degree relatives. Biol Psychiatry. 2012; 71(10):881-9. PMC: 3968680. DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2012.01.025. View

14.

Burton B, Vangkilde S, Petersen A, Skovgaard L, Jepsen J, Hemager N . Sustained Attention and Interference Control Among 7-Year-Old Children With a Familial High Risk of Schizophrenia or Bipolar Disorder-A Nationwide Observational Cohort Study. Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging. 2018; 3(8):704-712. DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2018.04.012. View

15.

Seidman L, Giuliano A, Smith C, Stone W, Glatt S, Meyer E . Neuropsychological functioning in adolescents and young adults at genetic risk for schizophrenia and affective psychoses: results from the Harvard and Hillside Adolescent High Risk Studies. Schizophr Bull. 2006; 32(3):507-24. PMC: 2632246. DOI: 10.1093/schbul/sbj078. View

16.

Pietrzykowski M, Daigle K, Waters A, Swenson L, Gansler D . The central executive network and executive function in healthy and persons with schizophrenia groups: a meta-analysis of structural and functional MRI. Brain Imaging Behav. 2021; 16(3):1451-1464. DOI: 10.1007/s11682-021-00589-3. View

17.

Coustals N, Martelli C, Brunet-Lecomte M, Petillion A, Romeo B, Benyamina A . Chronic smoking and cognition in patients with schizophrenia: A meta-analysis. Schizophr Res. 2020; 222:113-121. DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2020.03.071. View

18.

Schwarz K, Moessnang C, Schweiger J, Harneit A, Schneider M, Chen J . Ventral Striatal-Hippocampus Coupling During Reward Processing as a Stratification Biomarker for Psychotic Disorders. Biol Psychiatry. 2021; 91(2):216-225. DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2021.07.016. View

19.

Arsalidou M, Yaple Z, Jurcik T, Ushakov V . Cognitive Brain Signatures of Youth With Early Onset and Relatives With Schizophrenia: Evidence From fMRI Meta-analyses. Schizophr Bull. 2020; 46(4):857-868. PMC: 7345811. DOI: 10.1093/schbul/sbz130. View

20.

Ettinger U, Schmechtig A, Toulopoulou T, Borg C, Orrells C, Owens S . Prefrontal and striatal volumes in monozygotic twins concordant and discordant for schizophrenia. Schizophr Bull. 2010; 38(1):192-203. PMC: 3245600. DOI: 10.1093/schbul/sbq060. View