Morphology of Anterior Cingulate Cortex and Its Relation to Schizophrenia

Anastasiya Lahutsina; Filip Spaniel; Jana Mrzilkova; Alexandra Morozova; Marek Brabec; Vladimir Musil; Petr Zach

doi:10.3390/jcm12010033

Morphology of Anterior Cingulate Cortex and Its Relation to Schizophrenia

J Clin Med. 2022 Dec 21;12(1):33. doi: 10.3390/jcm12010033.

Authors

Anastasiya Lahutsina¹, Filip Spaniel², Jana Mrzilkova¹, Alexandra Morozova¹, Marek Brabec³, Vladimir Musil⁴, Petr Zach^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Anatomy, Third Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, 100 00 Prague, Czech Republic.
² National Institute of Mental Health, 250 67 Klecany, Czech Republic.
³ Department of Statistical Modeling, Institute of Computer Science, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, 182 00 Prague, Czech Republic.
⁴ Centre of Scientific Information, Third Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, 100 00 Prague, Czech Republic.

Abstract

Cortical folding of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), particularly the cingulate (CS) and the paracingulate (PCS) sulci, represents a neurodevelopmental marker. Deviations in in utero development in schizophrenia can be traced using CS and PCS morphometry. In the present study, we measured the length of CS, PCS, and their segments on T1 MRI scans in 93 patients with first- episode schizophrenia and 42 healthy controls. Besides the length, the frequency and the left-right asymmetry of CS/PCS were compared in patients and controls. Distribution of the CS and PCS morphotypes in patients was different from controls. Parcellated sulcal pattern CS3a in the left hemisphere was longer in patients (53.8 ± 25.7 mm vs. 32.7 ± 19.4 mm in controls, p < 0.05), while in CS3c it was reversed—longer in controls (52.5 ± 22.5 mm as opposed to 36.2 ± 12.9 mm, n.s. in patients). Non parcellated PCS in the right hemisphere were longer in patients compared to controls (19.4 ± 10.2 mm vs. 12.1 ± 12.4 mm, p < 0.001). Therefore, concurrent presence of PCS1 and CS1 in the left hemisphere and to some extent in the right hemisphere may be suggestive of a higher probability of schizophrenia.

Keywords: MRI; anatomy; cingulate and paracingulate sulci; morphology; schizophrenia.

Grants and funding

This research was funded by Charles University, grant Cooperatio 36—Medical Diagnostics and Basic Medical Sciences, Cooperatio 38—Neurosciences, Cooperatio 33—Intensive Care Medicine and grant 260388/SVV/2022; by Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic, grant number NU20-04-00393 as well as partially by the long-term strategic development financing of the Institute of Computer Science (Czech Republic RVO 67985807); by European Regional Development Fund-Project “Engineering applications of micro world physics” (Grant no. CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/16019/0000766).