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Imaging psychosis

Our main research focus is on etiology, neuroanatomy and early risk factors in psychotic disorders.

About the group

We investigate brain structural and functional characteristics using advanced MRI and how it relates to etiology (genes and environmental factors, i.e. alcohol and substance use) and early risk factors (e.g. obstetric complications), exposure to viral or other microbial infections, as well as with the clinical phenotype, immune markers and brain structure plasticity due to antipsychotic medication.

In longitudinal studies, we follow the developmental brain trajectories.

Aims

  • Investigate etiological risk factors and pathophysiological mechanisms in severe mental illness (foremost schizophrenia and affective psychosis disorders) from a brain imaging perspective.
  • Continue to develop a cohort of adolescents with early-onset psychosis for studying the brain and cognitive development to shed light on a not very well studied disease in youth.
  • Study how discreet psychotic symptoms, cognition, disease severity and related brain changes are related with exposure to viral agents and a history obstetric complications in severe mental illness.
  • Determine whether the blood brain barrier is compromised and can explain some of the the brain changes.
  • Apply and develop the best MR methodology to for brain and body studies.

Projects

  • Youth-TOP study: Adolescent early onset schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. A cohort study of adolescent patients followed over time. Since severe psychosis is rare and under-researched among adolescents, we started a Scandinavian multicenter study to reach as many adolescents with diagnosed schizophrenia or affective psychosis. They are studied for brain function and clinical and cognitive development and cardiovascular and metabolic factors, in addition to brain structure. The aim is to increase knowledge about psychosis among young people and contribute to safer diagnosis, improved treatment and possible preventive measures in the future. Please see Ungdoms-TOP for information about adolescent psychosis – the Youth-TOP project (in Norwegian)
  • EOP-study: Adolescent early onset schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. A cohort study of adolescent patients followed over time. Since severe psychosis is rare and under-researched among adolescents, we started a Scandinavian multicenter study to reach as many adolescents with diagnosed schizophrenia or affective psychosis. They are studied for brain function and clinical and cognitive development and cardiovascular and metabolic factors, in addition to brain structure. The aim is to increase knowledge about psychosis among young people and contribute to safer diagnosis, improved treatment and possible preventive measures in the future.
  • Brain correlates of persistent apathy, hallucinations and structural plasticity from antipsychotic medication.
  • Cardiovascular MRI and liver fat in patients with long-term treated schizophrenia.
  • Study of obstetric complications and viral exposure to blood brain barrier integrity using biomarkers and brain imaging. Importance of herpetogenic infections exposure to discrete brain structures (e.g. the dentate gyrus), and to cognitive function and symptoms of psychosis.
  • Use of novel MRI methods such as free-water DTI and myelin mapping.
  • Longitudinal follow-up: Cohorts of adult long-term treated diagnosed with schizophrenia or affective psychosis. We examine the brain correlates from a genetic and environmental and clinical perspective.
  • Sensory perception studies in psychosis using EEG/MRI (lead by Professor Erik Jönsson).

Collaboration

The group is actively involved in the TOP-project included in NORMENT and the K.G. Jebsen Centre for Psychosis Research, led by Professor Ole Andreassen.

Other collaborating research institutions and projects:

  • Scandinavia: Karolinska Institutet (the Human Brain Informatics Project (HUBIN), the Karolinska Schizophrenia Project (KaSP), and the Stockholm Child and Adolescence Psychosis Study (SCAPS)), Uppsala University, and the University of Bergen. 
  • Europe: EURONES.
  • USA: UCLA, UCSD, and the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
  • International research consortia: the Psychiatric Genetics Consortium (PGC), Enhancing Neuroimaging Genetics through Meta-Analysis (ENIGMA), ImageMend. We direct the ENIGMA adolescent early-onset psychosis studies (ENIGMA-EOP).

Funding

  • Norwegian Research Council
  • South-Eastern Norway Regional Health Authority (Helse Sør-Øst HF)
  • The Swedish Research Council.

Selected publications

Barth C, Kelly S, Nerland S, Jahanshad N,  Alloza C, Ambrogi S,  Andreassen OA, Andreou D, Arango C,  Baeza I, Banaj N, Bearden CE, Berk M, Bohman H,  Castro-Fornieles J,  Chye Y, Crespo-Facorro Benedicto, de la Serna E, Díaz-Caneja CM, Gurholt TP, Hegarty CE, James A, Janssen J,  Johannessen CH,  Jönsson EG, Karlsgodt KH, Kochunov P, Lois NG, Lundberg M, Myhre AM, Pascual-Diaz S, Piras F, Smelror RE, Spalletta G, Stokkan TS, Sugranyes G, Suo C, Thomopoulos SI, Tordesillas-Gutiérrez D, Vecchio D, Wedervang-Resell K, Wortinger LA, Thompson PM, Agartz I. In vivo white matter microstructure in adolescents with early-onset psychosis: a multi-site mega-analysis. Preprint: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.02.11.22270818 (In Press, Molecular Psychiatry)

Cytomegalovirus Infection Associated with Smaller Total Cortical Surface Area in Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders. Andreou D, Jørgensen KN, Nerland S, Yolken RH, Haukvik UK, Andreassen OA, Agartz I.Schizophr Bull. 2022 Sep 1;48(5):1164-1173. doi: 10.1093/schbul/sbac036.PMID: 35388401 Free PMC article.

A comparison of intracranial volume estimation methods and their cross-sectional and longitudinal associations with age. Nerland S, Stokkan TS, Jørgensen KN, Wortinger LA, Richard G, Beck D, van der Meer D, Westlye LT, Andreassen OA, Agartz I, Barth C.Hum Brain Mapp. 2022 Oct 15;43(15):4620-4639. doi: 10.1002/hbm.25978. Epub 2022 Jun 16.PMID: 35708198 

Association of Birth Asphyxia With Regional White Matter Abnormalities Among Patients With Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorders. Wortinger LA, Barth C, Nerland S, Jørgensen KN, Shadrin AA, Szabo A, Haukvik UK, Westlye LT, Andreassen OA, Thoresen M, Agartz I.JAMA Netw Open. 2021 Dec 1;4(12):e2139759. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.39759.PMID: 34928356 Free PMC article.

Aberrant default mode connectivity in adolescents with early-onset psychosis: A resting state fMRI study. Hilland E, Johannessen C, Jonassen R, Alnæs D, Jørgensen KN, Barth C, Andreou D, Nerland S, Wortinger LA, Smelror RE, Wedervang-Resell K, Bohman H, Lundberg M, Westlye LT, Andreassen OA, Jönsson EG, Agartz I.Neuroimage Clin. 2022;33:102881. doi: 10.1016/j.nicl.2021.102881. Epub 2021 Nov 12.PMID: 34883402 Free PMC article.

Multisite reproducibility and test-retest reliability of the T1w/T2w-ratio: A comparison of processing methods. Nerland S, Jørgensen KN, Nordhøy W, Maximov II, Bugge RAB, Westlye LT, Andreassen OA, Geier OM, Agartz I.Neuroimage. 2021 Dec 15;245:118709. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118709. Epub 2021 Nov 27.PMID: 34848300 

Intracranial and subcortical volumes in adolescents with early-onset psychosis: A multisite mega-analysis from the ENIGMA consortium. Gurholt TP, Lonning V, Nerland S, Jørgensen KN, Haukvik UK, Alloza C, Arango C, Barth C, Bearden CE, Berk M, Bohman H, Dandash O, Díaz-Caneja CM, Edbom CT, van Erp TGM, Fett AJ, Frangou S, Goldstein BI, Grigorian A, Jahanshad N, James AC, Janssen J, Johannessen C, Karlsgodt KH, Kempton MJ, Kochunov P, Krabbendam L, Kyriakopoulos M, Lundberg M, MacIntosh BJ, Rund BR, Smelror RE, Sultan A, Tamnes CK, Thomopoulos SI, Vajdi A, Wedervang-Resell K, Myhre AM, Andreassen OA, Thompson PM, Agartz I; ENIGMA-EOP Working Group.Hum Brain Mapp. 2022 Jan;43(1):373-384. doi: 10.1002/hbm.25212. Epub 2020 Oct 5.PMID: 33017498 Free PMC article.

Published Nov. 13, 2018 10:59 AM - Last modified Jan. 27, 2024 9:25 PM

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