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To evaluate the retinal vasculature and vasoreactivity of patients with hypertension (HTN) using spectral domain optical coherence tomography angiography (SD-OCTA).Patients with and without a diagnosis of HTN were included in this cross-sectional observational study. All eyes were imaged with SD-OCTA using 3 mm × 3 mm and 6 mm × 6 mm centered on both the fovea and optic disk. A second 6 mm × 6 mm scan was taken after a 30 s breath-hold. Vessel density (VD), vessel skeletonized density (VSD), and fractal dimension (FD) were calculated using customized MATLAB scripts. Vessel diameter index (VDI) was obtained by taking the ratio of VD to VSD. Vasoreactivity was measured by subtracting the VD or VSD before and after breath-hold (∆VD, ∆VSD).Twenty-three eyes with HTN (17 patients) and 17 control eyes (15 patients) were included. In the 6 mm × 6 mm angiogram centered on fovea, the superficial capillary plexus (SCP) VD (ß = - 0.029, p = 0.012), VSD (ß = - 0.004, p = 0.043) and the choriocapillaris VD (ß = - 0.021, p = 0.030) were significantly decreased in HTN compared to control eyes. Similarly, FD was decreased in both the SCP (ß = - 0.012, p = 0.013) and choriocapillaris (ß = - 0.009, p = 0.030). In the 3 mm × 3 mm angiogram centered on optic disk, SCP VDI (ß = - 0.364, p = 0.034) was decreased. ∆VD and ∆VSD were both reduced in the DCP (ß = - 0.034, p = 0.032; ß = - 0.013, p = 0.043) and ∆VSD was elevated in the choriocapillaris of HTN eyes (ß = 0.004, p = 0.032).The study used SD-OCTA to show significant differences in the retinal vasculature of hypertensive patients. It was also the first to demonstrate the potential of OCT-A to investigate retinal vascular reactivity in patients with HTN.

The choroid plexus (CP) is a delicate and highly vascularized structure in the brain comprised of a dense network of fenestrated capillary loops that help in the synthesis, secretion and circulation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). This unique neuroanatomical structure is comprised of arachnoid villi stemming from frond-like surface projections—that protrude into the lumen of the four cerebral ventricles—providing a key source of nutrients to the brain parenchyma in addition to serving as a ‘sink’ for central nervous system metabolic waste. In fact, the functions of the CP are often described as being analogous to those of the liver and kidney. Beyond forming a barrier/interface between the blood and CSF compartments, the CP has been identified as a modulator of leukocyte trafficking, inflammation, cognition, circadian rhythm and the gut brain-axis. In recent years, advances in molecular biology techniques and neuroimaging along with the use of sophisticated animal models have played an integral role in shaping our understanding of how the CP–CSF system changes in relation to the maturation of neural circuits during critical periods of brain development. In this article we provide an ontogenetic perspective of the CP and review the experimental evidence implicating this structure in the pathophysiology of neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders.

ImportanceTranscranial electrical stimulation (tES) may improve psychosis symptoms, but few investigations have targeted brain regions causally linked to psychosis symptoms. We implemented a novel montage targeting the extrastriate visual cortex (eVC) previously identified by lesion network mapping in the manifestation of visual hallucinations.ObjectiveTo determine if lesion network guided HD-tES to the eVC is safe and efficacious in reducing symptoms related to psychosis.Design, Setting, and ParticipantsSingle-center, nonrandomized, single-blind trial using a crossover design conducted in two 4-week phases beginning November 2020, and ending January 2022. Participants were adults 18-55 years of age with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, schizoaffective or psychotic bipolar disorder as confirmed by the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-V, without an antipsychotic medication change for at least 4 weeks. A total of 8 participants consented and 6 participants enrolled. Significance threshold set to Interventions6 Participants first received HD-tDCS (direct current), followed by 4 weeks of wash out, then 4 received 2Hz HD-tACS (alternating current). Participants received 5 consecutive days of daily (2 × 20min) stimulation applied bilaterally to the eVC.Main Outcomes and MeasuresPrimary outcomes included the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) total, positive, negative, and general scores, biological motion task, and Event Related Potential (ERP) measures obtained from a steady state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) task across each 4-week phase. Secondary outcomes included the Montgomery-Asperg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS), Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF), velocity discrimination task, visual working memory task, and emotional ERP across each 4-week phase.ResultsHD-tDCS improved general psychopathology in the short-term (d=0.47; pfdr=0.03), with long-term improvements in general psychopathology (d=0.62; pfdr=0.05) and GAF (d=-0.56; pfdr=0.04) with HD-tACS. HD-tDCS reduced SSVEP P1 (d=0.25; pfdr=0.005), which correlated with general psychopathology (β=0.274, t=3.59, p=0.04). No significant differences in safety or tolerability measures were identified.Conclusions and RelevanceLesion network guided HD-tES to the eVC is a safe, efficacious, and promising approach for reducing general psychopathology via changes in neuroplasticity. These results highlight the need for larger clinical trials implementing novel targeting methodologies for the treatments of psychosis.Trial RegistrationClinicalTrials.govIdentifier:NCT04870710Key PointsQuestionIs lesion network guided neurostimulation an efficacious, safe, and targeted approach for treating psychosis?FindingsIn this single-center, nonrandomized, crossover, single-blind trial of 6 outpatients with psychosis, improvement in general psychopathology was seen in the short-term with HD-tDCS (high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation) and long-term with HD-tACS (alternating current) targeting the extrastriate visual cortex (eVC). HD-tDCS reduced early visual evoked responses which linked to general psychopathology improvements. Overall, both stimulations were well tolerated.MeaningStudy findings suggest that lesion network guided HD-tES to the eVC is a safe, efficacious, and promising approach for reducing general psychopathology via neuroplastic changes.

Supplemental digital content is available in the text., Dysregulation of immunological and inflammatory processes is frequently observed in psychotic disorders. Numerous studies have examined the complex components of innate and adaptive immune processes in schizophrenia and related psychoses. Elevated inflammation in these conditions is related to neurobiological phenotypes and associated with both genetics and environmental exposures. Recent studies have utilized multivariate cytokine approaches to identify what appears to be a subset of individuals with elevated inflammation. The degree to which these findings represent a general process of dysregulated inflammation or whether there are more refined subtypes remains unclear. Brain-imaging studies have attempted to establish the link between peripheral inflammation and gray matter disruption, white matter abnormalities, and neuropsychological phenotypes. However, the interplay between peripheral inflammation and neuroinflammation, as well as the consequences of this interplay, in the context of psychosis remains unclear and requires further investigation. This Perspectives article reviews the following elements of immune dysregulation and its clinical and therapeutic implications: (1) evidence supporting inflammation and immune dysregulation in schizophrenia and related psychoses; (2) recent advances in approaches to characterizing subgroups of patients with elevated inflammation; (3) relationships between peripheral inflammation and brain-imaging indicators of neuroinflammation; (4) convergence of large-scale genetic findings and peripheral inflammation findings; and (5) therapeutic implications: anti-inflammation interventions leveraging genetic findings for drug discovery and repurposing. We offer perspectives and examples of how multiomics technologies may be useful for constructing and studying immunogenetic signatures. Advancing research in this area will facilitate biomarker discovery, disease subtyping, and the development of etiological treatments for immune dysregulation in psychosis.

BACKGROUND Coordinated Specialty Care (CSC) has demonstrated efficacy in improving outcomes in Clinical High Risk for Psychosis (CHR-p) and First Episode Psychosis (FEP) populations. Given limitations in scalability and staffing needs, the augmentation of services using digital mental health interventions (DMHI’s) may be explored to help support CSC service delivery. OBJECTIVE This study aims to understand methods to implement and support technology into routine CSC and offers a new protocol to further assess implementation barriers and facilitators. METHODS Patients and clinicians including psychiatrists, therapists, and supported education and employment (SEE) specialists from a CHR-p clinic (CEDAR) and a FEP clinic (ASPIRE) participated in a quality improvement project exploring the feasibility of DMHI’s following the Access, Alignment, Connection, Care, and Scalability (AACCS) framework to implement mindLAMP, a flexible and evidenced-based DMHI. Digital navigators were used at each site to assist clinicians and patients to implement mindLAMP. To explore differences in implementation effectiveness associated with application format, a menu-style format was delivered at CEDAR, and a modular approach was utilized at ASPIRE. Qualitative baseline and follow-up data were collected to assess specific implementation outcomes. RESULTS Participants (Aspire =3, CEDAR = 2) included 3 white (60%), 2 (40%) males, 2 (40%) females, and 1 (20%) transgender-man with a mean age of 19.6. Implementation outcome data revealed that patients and clinicians demonstrate readiness for digital technologies, but implementation barriers and facilitators may continue to be explored and improved through support from digital navigators, utilizing a patient-centered approach, and that versatility, autonomy, and structure are important features of any implementation model. These findings supported the development of the Implementing Technologies to Enhance Coordinated Specialty Care (iTECSC) protocol, an implementation framework directed at supporting implementation of DMHI’s towards clinician and patient dyads, guided by digital navigators that provides versatility, autonomy, and structure. CONCLUSIONS This paper proposes a protocol that would further assess the effectiveness and implementation outcomes of iTECSC when compared with standard Digitally Enhanced Care (DEC). Results from this study would explore the effects of iTECSC in reducing symptoms and improving functioning, when compared to DEC, and would also provide further insights towards the nuanced implementation facilitators and barriers related to integrating digital technologies into CSC.

BackgroundChoroid plexus (ChP) enlargement has been described in first-episode psychosis and psychosis spectrum disorders, but whether ChP enlargement occurs before disease onset is unknown. This study investigated whether ChP volume is enlarged in individuals with clinical high-risk (CHR) for psychosis and whether these changes are related to clinical, cortical, and plasma analyte measures.MethodsClinical and neuroimaging data from the North American Prodrome Longitudinal Study 2 (NAPLS2) was used for analysis. A total of 509 participants (169 controls, 340 CHR) were recruited across 8 sites. Conversion status was determined until 2-years of follow-up, with 36 patients developing psychosis. The lateral ventricle ChP was manually segmented from all available baseline brain scans. A subsample of 84 participants (31 controls, 53 CHR) had plasma analyte and neuroimaging data.ResultsCompared to controls, CHR overall (d=0.22, p=0.017) and converters(d=0.21, p=0.041)demonstrated higher ChP volumes, but not nonconverters. In CHR, greater ChP volume correlated with lower cortical(r=−0.22, pand subcortical gray matter volume(r=− 0.21, p, total white matter volume(r=−0.28,p, and larger lateral ventricle volume(r=0.63,p. In CHR, greater ChP volume, but not lateral ventricle volume, correlated with higher C3(r=0.39, p=0.005)and TSH(r=0.31, p=0.026), and lower MMP7(r=−0.30, p=0.032)and UMOD(r=−0.33, p=0.019).Conclusions and RelevanceCHR and converters to psychosis demonstrated significantly larger ChP volumes compared to controls. ChP enlargement was associated with cortical volume reduction and increased peripheral inflammatory markers. These findings suggest that the ChP may be a key biomarker in psychosis disease onset and conversion.

Elevations in peripheral inflammatory markers have been reported in patients with psychosis. Whether this represents an inflammatory process defined by individual or subgroups of markers is unclear. Further, relationships between peripheral inflammatory marker elevations and brain structure, cognition, and clinical features of psychosis remain unclear. We hypothesized that a pattern of plasma inflammatory markers, and an inflammatory subtype established from this pattern, would be elevated across the psychosis spectrum and associated with cognition and brain structural alterations. Clinically stable psychosis probands (Schizophrenia spectrum, n = 79; Psychotic Bipolar disorder, n = 61) and matched healthy controls (HC, n = 60) were assessed for 15 peripheral inflammatory markers, cortical thickness, subcortical volume, cognition, and symptoms. A combination of unsupervised exploratory factor analysis and hierarchical clustering was used to identify inflammation subtypes. Levels of IL6, TNFα, VEGF, and CRP were significantly higher in psychosis probands compared to HCs, and there were marker-specific differences when comparing diagnostic groups. Individual and/or inflammatory marker patterns were associated with neuroimaging, cognition, and symptom measures. A higher inflammation subgroup was defined by elevations in a group of 7 markers in 36% of Probands and 20% of HCs. Probands in the elevated inflammatory marker group performed significantly worse on cognitive measures of visuo-spatial working memory and response inhibition, displayed elevated hippocampal, amygdala, putamen and thalamus volumes, and evidence of gray matter thickening compared to the proband group with low inflammatory marker levels. These findings specify the nature of peripheral inflammatory marker alterations in psychotic disorders and establish clinical, neurocognitive and neuroanatomic associations with increased inflammatory activation in psychosis. The identification of a specific subgroup of patients with inflammatory alteration provides a potential means for targeting treatment with anti-inflammatory medications.

BACKGROUND Neurovascular abnormalities are relevant to the pathophysiology of bipolar disorder (BD), which can be assessed using cerebral blood flow (CBF) imaging. CBF alterations have been identified in BD, but studies to date have been small and inconclusive. We aimed to determine cortical gray matter CBF (GM-CBF) differences between BD and healthy controls (HC) and to identify relationships between CBF and clinical or cognitive measures. METHODS Cortical GM-CBF maps were generated using Pseudo-Continuous Arterial Spin Labeling (pCASL) for 109 participants (BD, n = 61; HC, n = 48). We used SnPM13 to perform non-parametric voxel-wise two-sample t-tests comparing CBF between groups. We performed multiple linear regression to relate GM-CBF with clinical and cognitive measures. Analysis was adjusted for multiple comparisons with 10,000 permutations. Significance was set at a voxel level threshold of P

For decades, noninvasive brain stimulation (NIBS), such as transcranial electrical stimulation (tES), has been used to directly modulate human brain mechanisms of visual perception, setting the groundwork for the development of novel circuit-based therapies. While the field of NIBS has grown considerably over recent years, few studies have used these technologies to treat visual hallucinations (VH). Here, we review the NIBS-VH literature and find mixed results due to shortcomings that may potentially be addressed with a unique multimodal neuroimaging-NIBS approach. We highlight methodological advances in NIBS research that have provided researchers with more precise anatomical measurements that may improve our ability to influence brain activity. Specifically, we propose a methodology that combines neuroimaging advances, clinical neuroscience developments such as the identification of brain regions causally involved in VH, and personalized NIBS approaches that improve anatomical targeting. This methodology may enable us to reconcile existing discrepancies in tES-VH research and pave the way for more effective, VH-specific protocols for treating a number of neuropsychiatric disorders with VH as a core symptom.

BackgroundCannabis use (CA) and childhood trauma (CT) independently increase the risk of earlier psychosis onset; but their interaction in relation to psychosis risk and association with endocannabinoid-receptor rich brain regions, i.e. the hippocampus (HP), remains unclear. The objective was to determine whether lower age of psychosis onset (AgePsyOnset) is associated with CA and CT through mediation by the HP, and genetic risk, as measured by schizophrenia polygene scores (SZ-PGRS).MethodsCross- sectional, case-control, multicenter sample from 5 metropolitan US regions. Participants (n=1185) included 397 controls not affected by psychosis (HC); 209 participants with bipolar disorder type-1; 279 with schizoaffective disorder; and 300 with schizophrenia (DSM IV-TR). CT was assessed using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ); CA was assessed by self-reports and trained clinical interviewers. Assessment included neuroimaging, symptomatology, cognition and calculation of the SZ polygenic risk score (SZ-PGRS).OutcomesIn survival analysis, low CT and CA are associated with lower AgePsyOnset. At high CT or CA, CT or CA are individually sufficient to affect AgePsyOnset. CT relation with AgePsyOnset is mediated in part by the HP in CA users before AgePsyOnset. CA before AgePsyOnset is associated with higher SZ-PGRS and correlated with younger age at CA usage.InterpretationCA and CT interact to increase risk when moderate; while severe CT and/or CA abuse/dependence are each sufficient to affect AgePsyOnset, indicating a ceiling effect. Probands with/out CA before AgePsyOnset differ on biological variables, suggesting divergent pathways to psychosis.FundingMH077945; MH096942; MH096913; MH077862; MH103368; MH096900; MH122759.Research in contextEvidence before this studyCannabis use (CA) and childhood trauma (CT) independently increase the risk of earlier development of psychosis. Scarce evidence exists on the interaction between CA and CT and the neurobiological substrate of their interaction.Added value of this studyAnalysis of a large transdiagnostic sample of psychosis probands and controls (N=1288) indicates synergy of CT and CA and small but significant contribution of the posterior hippocampus. Data further indicate existence of two populations of probands with psychosis, those with and those without CA after CT before psychosis onset. CT and CA before psychosis onset interact according to a stepwise increase up to reaching a ceiling effect.Implications of all the available evidenceClinically, youth with low, medium CT need to be targeted for intervention before CA onset.

In schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, tight junction deficits in brain microvascular endothelial cells (BMECs) lead to blood brain barrier (BBB) dysfunction. Using an in vitro model of human BBB function, we show that BMECs derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells of schizophrenia patients show reduced BBB integrity and increased small molecule permeability when compared to healthy control BMECs. Stratification based on BBB function in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder patients identified a BBB-deficit subtype with reduced barrier function, increased permeability to larger molecules, and decreased claudin-5 (CLDN5) levels. BMECs from the BBB-deficit group show increased MMP1 activity, which correlated with reduced CLDN5 levels and worse BBB function, which were rescued by tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα and MMP1 inhibition. These results show intrinsic deficits in BMECs in psychotic disorders that result in BBB disruption and further identify TNFα and MMP1 as potential targets for ameliorating BBB deficits.

Chloe Y Li,1,* Itika Garg,1,2,* Deepthi Bannai,3 Megan Kasetty,1 Raviv Katz,1,2 Iniya Adhan,3 Konstantinos AA Douglas,1 Jay C Wang,1 Leo A Kim,2 Matcheri Keshavan,3 Paulo Lizano,3,* John B Miller1,2,* 1Harvard Retinal Imaging Laboratory, Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Boston, MA, USA; 2Retina Service, Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Boston, MA, USA; 3Department of Psychiatry, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: John B Miller, Harvard Medical School, Department of Ophthalmology, Massachusetts Eye and Ear, 243 Charles St, Boston, MA, 02114, USA, Tel +1 617-573-3529, Email john_miller@meei.harvard.edu Paulo Lizano, Harvard Medical School, Department of Psychiatry, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, 75 Fenwood Road, Room 612, Boston, MA, 02115, USA, Tel +1 617-754-1227, Email plizano@bidmc.harvard.eduPurpose: While structural changes within the retina of psychosis patients have been established, no detailed studies of choroidal microvasculature in these patients have been performed. Given evidence of microvascular disruption in psychosis patients, this study sought to determine whether there exists evidence of microvascular disruption in the choroids in these patients.Methods: Fifty-six subjects (20 controls and 36 psychosis patients) were recruited from April 2018 to February 2020. Five were excluded due to imaging artifact or missing demographic information. Swept-source optical coherence tomography angiography (SS-OCTA) images were obtained. Choroid vascular enface images (12 mm × 9mm) were exported every 2.6 μm from Bruch’s membrane to the choroid–scleral interface from Topcon to ImageJ. The images were binarized using Otsu’s method, signal from the optic disk and retinal vasculature was removed, and average choroid vascular density (CVD) was calculated as the average of percent area occupied by choroidal vasculature across images in the stack. Choroid vascular volume (CVV) was calculated as the CVD multiplied by maximum CT and image area. During image analysis, study staff were blinded to the phenotype of the study subjects.Results: Compared with same-sex controls, male psychiatric patients had significantly lower CVD. Compared with same-sex controls, female psychiatric patients had significantly lower maximum CT with correspondingly decreased CVV, after adjusting for age. When all psychiatric patients were compared with all healthy controls, no significant differences in CT, CVD, or CVV were noted.Conclusion: These results suggest that the pathogenesis of psychotic illness affects choroidal microvasculature in a sex-specific manner.Keywords: choroid vascular density, swept source optical coherence tomography angiography, psychosis, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder

BACKGROUND: Peripheral inflammation is implicated in schizophrenia, however, not all individuals demonstrate inflammatory alterations. Recent studies identified inflammatory subtypes in chronic psychosis with high inflammation having worse cognitive performance and displaying neuroanatomical enlargement compared to low inflammation subtypes. It is unclear if inflammatory subtypes exist earlier in the disease course, thus, we aim to identify inflammatory subtypes in antipsychotic naïve First-Episode Schizophrenia (FES). METHODS: 12 peripheral inflammatory markers, clinical, cognitive, and neuroanatomical measures were collected from a naturalistic study of antipsychotic-naïve FES patients. A combination of unsupervised principal component analysis and hierarchical clustering was used to categorize inflammatory subtypes from their cytokine data (17 FES High, 30 FES Low, and 33 healthy controls (HCs)). Linear regression analysis was used to assess subtype differences. Neuroanatomical correlations with clinical and cognitive measures were performed using partial Spearman correlations. Graph theoretical analyses were performed to assess global and local network properties across inflammatory subtypes. RESULTS: The FES High group made up 36% of the FES group and demonstrated significantly greater levels of IL1β, IL6, IL8, and TNFα compared to FES Low, and higher levels of IL1β and IL8 compared to HCs. FES High had greater right parahippocampal, caudal anterior cingulate, and bank superior sulcus thicknesses compared to FES Low. Compared to HCs, FES Low showed smaller bilateral amygdala volumes and cortical thickness. FES High and FES Low groups demonstrated less efficient topological organization compared to HCs. Individual cytokines and/or inflammatory signatures were positively associated with cognition and symptom measures. CONCLUSIONS: Inflammatory subtypes are present in antipsychotic-naïve FES and are associated with inflammation-mediated cortical expansion. These findings support our previous findings in chronic psychosis and point towards a connection between inflammation and blood-brain barrier disruption. Thus, identifying inflammatory subtypes may provide a novel therapeutic avenue for biomarker-guided treatment involving anti-inflammatory medications.

Impairments of the visual system are implicated in psychotic disorders. However, studies exploring visual cortex (VC) morphology in this population are limited. Using data from the Bipolar-Schizophrenia Network on Intermediate Phenotypes consortium, we examined VC structure in psychosis probands and their first-degree relatives (RELs), sex differences in VC measures, and their relationships with cognitive and peripheral inflammatory markers.Cortical thickness, surface area, and volume of the primary (Brodmann area 17/V1) and secondary (Brodmann area 18/V2) visual areas and the middle temporal (V5/MT) region were quantified using FreeSurfer version 6.0 in psychosis probands (n = 530), first-degree RELs (n = 544), and healthy control subjects (n = 323). Familiality estimates were determined for probands and RELs. General cognition, response inhibition, and emotion recognition functions were assessed. Systemic inflammation was measured in a subset of participants.Psychosis probands demonstrated significant area, thickness, and volume reductions in V1, V2, and MT, and their first-degree RELs demonstrated area and volume reductions in MT compared with control subjects. There was a higher degree of familiality for VC area than thickness. Area and volume reductions in V1 and V2 were sex dependent, affecting only female probands in a regionally specific manner. Reductions in some VC regions were correlated with poor general cognition, worse response inhibition, and increased C-reactive protein levels.The visual cortex is a site of significant pathology in psychotic disorders, with distinct patterns of area and thickness changes, sex-specific and regional effects, potential contributions to cognitive impairments, and association with C-reactive protein levels.

BACKGROUND: Cognitive impairment is a core deficit across psychotic disorders, the causes and therapeutics of which remain unclear. Epidemiological observations have suggested associations between cognitive dysfunction in psychotic disorders and cardiovascular risk factors, but an underlying etiology has not been established. METHODS: Neuropsychological performance using the Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia (BACS) was assessed in 616 individuals of European ancestry (403 psychosis, 213 controls). Polygenic risk scores for coronary artery disease (PRS(CAD)) were quantified for each participant across 13 p-value thresholds (P(T) 0.5-5e(−8)). Cardiovascular and psychotropic medications were categorized for association analyses. Each PRS(CAD) was examined in relation to the BACS and the optimized P(T) was confirmed with five-fold cross-validation and independent validation. Functional enrichment analyses were used to identify biological mechanisms linked to PRS(CAD)-cognition associations. Multiple regression analyses examined PRS(CAD) under the optimal P(T) and medication burden in relation to the BACS composite and subtest scores. RESULTS: Higher PRS(CAD) was associated with lower BACS composite scores (p=0.001) in the psychosis group, primarily driven by the Verbal Memory subtest (p

BackgroundNeurological Examination Abnormalities (NES) are quantified by measuring subtle, partially localizable (cerebello-thalamo-prefrontal cortical circuit) and heritable neurological signs comprising sensory integration, motor coordination and complex motor sequencing that are associated with first-episode psychosis (FEP). A few studies have evaluated NES longitudinally and as a predictor for diagnostic and response classification, but these studies have been confounded, underpowered and divergent. We examined (1) baseline and longitudinal NES differences between diagnostic and year 1 response groups; (2) if NES predicts diagnostic and response groups and (3) relationships between clinical variables and NES measures in antipsychotic-naïve FEP.MethodsNES and clinical measures were obtained for FEP-schizophrenia (FEP-SZ,n= 232), FEP non-schizophrenia (FEP-NSZ,n= 117) and healthy controls (HC,n= 204). Response groups with >25% improvement in average year 1 positive and negative symptomatology scores were classified as responsive (n= 97) and n= 95). Analysis of covariance, NES trajectory analysis and logistic regression models assessed diagnostic and response group differences. Baseline and longitudinal NES relationships with clinical variables were performed with Spearman correlations. Data were adjusted for age, sex, race, socioeconomic status and handedness.ResultsCognitive perceptual (COGPER) score was better than repetitive motor (REPMOT) at differentiating FEP-SZ from FEP-NSZ and distinguishing responders from non-responders. We identified significant group-specific associations between COGPER and worse GAF, positive and negative symptomatology and some of these findings persisted at 1-year assessment.ConclusionNES are an easy to administer, bedside-elicited, endophenotypic measure and could be a cost-effective clinical tool in antipsychotic-naïve FEP.

Objective:The choroid plexus is an important physiological barrier and produces CSF and neurotrophic, angiogenic, and inflammatory factors involved in brain development. Choroid plexus abnormalitie...

Background Schizophrenia (SZ) and bipolar disorder (BD) are characterized by reductions in gray matter and white matter. Limitations in brain imaging have led researchers to use optical coherence tomography (OCT) to explore retinal imaging biomarkers of brain pathology. We examine the retinal layers that may be associated with SZ or BD. Methods Articles identified using PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Database. Twelve studies met inclusion for acutely/chronically ill patients. We used fixed or random effects meta-analysis for probands (SZ and BD), SZ or BD eyes vs healthy control (HC) eyes. We adjusted for sources of bias, cross-validated results, and report standardized mean differences (SMD). Statistical analysis performed using meta package in R. Results Data from 820 proband eyes (SZ = 541, BD = 279) and 904 HC eyes were suitable for meta-analysis. The peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) showed significant thinning in SZ and BD eyes compared to HC eyes (n = 12, SMD = −0.74, −0.51, −1.06, respectively). RNFL thinning was greatest in the nasal, temporal, and superior regions. The combined peripapillary ganglion cell layer and inner plexiform layer (GCL-IPL) showed significant thinning in SZ and BD eyes compared to HC eyes (n = 4, SMD = −0.39, −0.44, −0.28, respectively). No statistically significant differences were identified in other retinal or choroidal regions. Clinical variables were unrelated to the RNFL or GCL-IPL thickness by meta-regression. Conclusion The observed retinal layer thinning is consistent with the classic gray- and white-matter atrophy observed on neuroimaging in SZ and BD patients. OCT may be a useful biomarker tool in studying the neurobiology of psychosis.

Instead of matching neuroimaging to static clinical targets, it is currently possible to use dynamic biobehavioral markers of cognition, functioning, behavior, and symptoms captured through a person’s smartphone. This paper reviews the published literature linking neuroimaging and smartphone data to understand the feasibility, methods, and potential of using smartphone sensing (often called digital phenotyping) as a target for neuroimaging. On June 30, 2020, a literature search was conducted on PubMed and PsycINFO for studies utilizing neuroimaging and smartphones tools. We excluded EEG focused studies, conference proceedings and abstracts. A snowball approach was applied to further locate papers. We utilized the NIMH’s Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) framework to organize results. 262 publications uncovered by the search were screened, and 14 papers were included in the final analysis. All studies differed in terms of the type of data collected from smartphones, type of neuroimaging used, areas of the brain measured, and population studied. The average duration before or after neuroimaging and smartphone assessments was 39 days. While it was not possible to directly compare studies, a majority of the included reports were classified under the Negative Valence Systems category in the RDoC framework. All studies reported statistically significant relationships between the information collected via the digital tool and the brain scans, and support feasibility of this method. The current literature connecting smartphone data and neuroimaging is nascent but holds the potential to better understand the ability of digital tools to inform brain structure and/or function. Although the protocols and studies from this search were heterogenous, results suggest feasibility and practicality of this work.

Brain microvascular endothelial cells (BMECs) can be differentiated from human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to develop ex vivo cellular models for studying blood-brain barrier (BBB) function. This modified protocol provides detailed steps to derive, expand, and cryopreserve BMECs from human iPSCs using a different donor and reagents than those reported in previous protocols. iPSCs are treated with essential 6 medium for 4 days, followed by 2 days of human endothelial serum-free culture medium supplemented with basic fibroblast growth factor, retinoic acid, and B27 supplement. At day 6, cells are sub-cultured onto a collagen/fibronectin matrix for 2 days. Immunocytochemistry is performed at day 8 for BMEC marker analysis using CLDN5, OCLN, TJP1, PECAM1, and SLC2A1. Western blotting is performed to confirm BMEC marker expression, and absence of SOX17, an endodermal marker. Angiogenic potential is demonstrated with a sprouting assay. Trans-endothelial electrical resistance (TEER) is measured using chopstick electrodes and voltohmmeter starting at day 7. Efflux transporter activity for ATP binding cassette subfamily B member 1 and ATP binding cassette subfamily C member 1 is measured using a multi-plate reader at day 8. Successful derivation of BMECs is confirmed by the presence of relevant cell markers, low levels of SOX17, angiogenic potential, transporter activity, and TEER values ~2000 Ω x cm2. BMECs are expanded until day 10 before passaging onto freshly coated collagen/fibronectin plates or cryopreserved. This protocol demonstrates that iPSC-derived BMECs can be expanded and passaged at least once. However, lower TEER values and poorer localization of BMEC markers was observed after cryopreservation. BMECs can be utilized in co-culture experiments with other cell types (neurons, glia, pericytes), in three-dimensional brain models (organ-chip and hydrogel), for vascularization of brain organoids, and for studying BBB dysfunction in neuropsychiatric disorders.

Focusing on biomarker identification and using biomarkers individually or in clusters to define biological subgroups in psychiatry requires a re-orientation from behavioral phenomenology to quantifying brain features, requiring big data approaches for data integration. Much still needs to be accomplished, not only to refine but also to build support for the application and customization of such an analytical phenotypic approach. In this review, we present some of what Bipolar-Schizophrenia Network for Intermediate Phenotypes (B-SNIP) has learned so far to guide future applications of multivariate phenotyping and their analyses to understanding psychosis. This paper describes several B-SNIP projects that use phenotype data and big data computations to generate novel outcomes and glimpse what phenotypes contribute to disease understanding and, with aspiration, to treatment. The source of the phenotypes varies from genetic data, structural neuroanatomic localization, immune markers, brain physiology, and cognition. We aim to see guiding principles emerge and areas of commonality revealed. And, we will need to demonstrate not only data stability but also the usefulness of biomarker information for subgroup identification enhancing target identification and treatment development.

Background: Despite decades of research, little clarity exists regarding pathogenic mechanisms related to schizophrenia. Investigations on the disease biology of schizophrenia have primarily focused on neuronal alterations. However, there is substantial evidence pointing to a significant role for the brain’s microvasculature in mediating neuroinflammation in schizophrenia. Summary: Brain microvascular endothelial cells (BMEC) are a central element of the microvasculature that forms the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and shields the brain against toxins and immune cells via paracellular, transcellular, transporter, and extracellular matrix proteins. While evidence for BBB dysfunction exists in brain disorders, including schizophrenia, it is not known if BMEC themselves are functionally compromised and lead to BBB dysfunction. Key Messages: Genome-wide association studies, postmortem investigations, and gene expression analyses have provided some insights into the role of the BBB in schizophrenia pathophysiology. However, there is a significant gap in our understanding of the role that BMEC play in BBB dysfunction. Recent advances differentiating human BMEC from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) provide new avenues to examine the role of BMEC in BBB dysfunction in schizophrenia.

The thalamus, amygdala, and hippocampus play important pathophysiologic roles in psychosis. Few studies have prospectively examined subcortical nuclei in relation to predicting clinical outcomes after a first-episode of psychosis (FEP). Here, we examined volumetric differences and trajectories among subcortical nuclei in FEP patients and their associations with illness severity. Clinical and brain volume measures were collected using a 1.5T MRI scanner and processed using FreeSurfer 6.0 from a prospective study of antipsychotic-naive FEP patients of FEP-schizophrenia (FEP-SZ) (baseline, n = 38; follow-up, n = 17), FEP non-schizophrenia (FEP-NSZ) (baseline, n = 23; follow-up, n = 13), and healthy controls (HCs) (baseline, n = 47; follow-up, n = 29). Compared to FEP-NSZ and HCs, FEP-SZ had significantly smaller thalamic anterior nuclei volume at baseline. Longitudinally, FEP-SZ showed a positive rate of change in the amygdala compared to controls or FEP-NSZ, as well as in the basal, central and accessory basal nuclei compared to FEP-NSZ. Enlargement in the thalamic anterior nuclei predicted a worsening in overall psychosis symptoms. Baseline thalamic anterior nuclei alterations further specify key subcortical regions associated with FEP-SZ pathophysiology. Longitudinally, anterior nuclei volume enlargement may signal symptomatic worsening. The amygdala and thalamus structures may show diagnostic differences between schizophrenia and non-schizophrenia psychoses, while the thalamus changes may reflect disease or treatment related changes in clinical outcome.

22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome (22qDS) is a neurogenetic disorder resulting in cognitive deficits and hypogyrification, but relationships between these processes have not been established. 22qDS youth and healthy controls (HC) were administered a battery of cognitive tasks. Gyrification measurements were extracted from structural T1 scans using Freesurfer, contrasted between groups, and correlated to cognition. Data was adjusted for age, sex, socio-economic status and intracranial volume. 22qDS displayed significant hypogyrification which was associated with poorer executive functioning and verbal learning in orbitofrontal and anterior cingulate cortex. Our preliminary findings identified neurodevelopmental deficits in 22qDS shown by hypogyria, which relate to cognitive impairments.

Elevations in peripheral inflammatory markers have been reported in patients with psychosis. Whether this represents an inflammatory process defined by individual or subgroups of markers is unclear. Further, relationships between peripheral inflammatory marker elevations and brain structure, cognition, and clinical features of psychosis remain unclear. We hypothesized that a pattern of plasma inflammatory markers, and an inflammatory subtype established from this pattern, would be elevated across the psychosis spectrum and associated with cognition and brain structural alterations. Clinically stable psychosis probands (Schizophrenia spectrum, n = 79; Psychotic Bipolar disorder, n = 61) and matched healthy controls (HC, n = 60) were assessed for 15 peripheral inflammatory markers, cortical thickness, subcortical volume, cognition, and symptoms. A combination of unsupervised exploratory factor analysis and hierarchical clustering was used to identify inflammation subtypes. Levels of IL6, TNFα, VEGF, and CRP were significantly higher in psychosis probands compared to HCs, and there were marker-specific differences when comparing diagnostic groups. Individual and/or inflammatory marker patterns were associated with neuroimaging, cognition, and symptom measures. A higher inflammation subgroup was defined by elevations in a group of 7 markers in 36% of Probands and 20% of HCs. Probands in the elevated inflammatory marker group performed significantly worse on cognitive measures of visuo-spatial working memory and response inhibition, displayed elevated hippocampal, amygdala, putamen and thalamus volumes, and evidence of gray matter thickening compared to the proband group with low inflammatory marker levels. These findings specify the nature of peripheral inflammatory marker alterations in psychotic disorders and establish clinical, neurocognitive and neuroanatomic associations with increased inflammatory activation in psychosis. The identification of a specific subgroup of patients with inflammatory alteration provides a potential means for targeting treatment with anti-inflammatory medications.

The B-SNIP consortium identified three brain-based Biotypes across the psychosis spectrum, independent of clinical phenomenology. To externally validate the Biotype model, we used free-water fractional volume (FW) and free-water corrected fractional anisotropy (FAT) to compare white matter differences across Biotypes and clinical diagnoses. Diffusion tensor imaging data from 167 individuals were included: 41 healthy controls, 55 schizophrenia probands, 47 schizoaffective disorder probands, and 24 probands with psychotic bipolar disorder. Compared to healthy controls, FAt reductions were observed in the body of corpus callosum (BCC) for schizoaffective disorder (d = 0.91) and schizophrenia (d = 0.64). Grouping by Biotype, Biotype 1 showed FAt reductions in the CC and fornix, with largest effect in the BCC (d = 0.87). Biotype 2 showed significant FAt reductions in the BCC (d = 0.90). Schizoaffective disorder individuals had elevated FW in the CC, fornix and anterior corona radiata (ACR), with largest effect in the BCC (d = 0.79). Biotype 2 showed elevated FW in the CC, fornix and ACR, with largest effect in the BCC (d = 0.94). While significant diagnosis comparisons were observed, overall greater discrimination from healthy controls was observed for lower FAt in Biotype 1 and elevated FW in Biotype 2. However, between-group differences were modest, with one region (cerebral peduncle) showing a between-Biotype effect. No between-group effects were observed for diagnosis groupings.