The relationship between stress, HPA axis functioning and brain structure in first episode psychosis over the first 12 weeks of treatment

RLEP Reniers; B Garner; C Phassouliotis; LJ Phillips; C Markulev; C Pantelis; S Bendall; PD McGorry; SJ Wood

Journal article

The relationship between stress, HPA axis functioning and brain structure in first episode psychosis over the first 12 weeks of treatment

RLEP Reniers, B Garner, C Phassouliotis, LJ Phillips, C Markulev, C Pantelis, S Bendall, PD McGorry, SJ Wood

Psychiatry Research Neuroimaging | ELSEVIER IRELAND LTD | Published : 2015

DOI: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2014.11.004

Abstract

Stress and abnormal hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis functioning have been implicated in the early phase of psychosis and may partly explain reported changes in brain structure. This study used magnetic resonance imaging to investigate whether biological measures of stress were related to brain structure at baseline and to structural changes over the first 12 weeks of treatment in first episode patients (n=22) compared with matched healthy controls (n=22). At baseline, no significant group differences in biological measures of stress, cortical thickness or hippocampal volume were observed, but a significantly stronger relationship between baseline levels of cortisol and smaller white matt..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Christina Phassouliotis Author

Lisa Phillips Author

Connie Markulev Author

Christos Pantelis Author

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Grants

Awarded by University of Melbourne

Funding Acknowledgements

The study was funded by the Colonial Foundation, Australia, NHMRC project grant ID: 628884, a University of Melbourne Research Grant and a NARSAD Young Investigator Award to Dr Garner, Dr Garner was supported by an NHMRC Postdoctoral Ttraining Fellowship (ID: 520120). Professor Wood was supported by an NHMRC Clinical Career Developmental Award (ID: 359223) and a NARSAD Young Investigator Award, Professor Pantelis and Professor McGorry were supported by NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellowships (ID: 628386; APP1060996) and NHMRC Program Grants (ID: 350241; 566529). Professor Pantelis was furthermore supported by a NARSAD Distinguished Investigator Award (ID: 18722), Dr Bendall was supported by an NHMRC Early Career Research Fellowship (ID: 1036425). Neuroimaging analysis was facilitated by the Neuropsychiatry Imaging Laboratory at the Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre and supported by Melbourne Health and Neurosciences Victoria. The funding sources had no role in the study design, in the collection, analysis and interpretation of the data, in the writing of the manuscript, and in the decision to submit the paper for publication.