0000000000223979
AUTHOR
Enrico Smeraldi
showing 15 related works from this author
Lithium and GSK3-β promoter gene variants influence white matter microstructure in bipolar disorder
2013
Lithium is the mainstay for the treatment of bipolar disorder (BD) and inhibits glycogen synthase kinase 3-beta (GSK3-beta). The less active GSK3-beta promoter gene variants have been associated with less detrimental clinical features of BD. GSK3-beta gene variants and lithium can influence brain gray matter structure in psychiatric conditions. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) measures of white matter (WM) integrity showed widespred disruption of WM structure in BD. In a sample of 70 patients affected by a major depressive episode in course of BD, we investigated the effect of ongoing long-term lithium treatment and GSK3-beta promoter rs334558 polymorphism on WM microstructure, using DTI and …
Disruption of White Matter Integrity in Bipolar Depression as a Possible Structural Marker of Illness
2011
Background: Diffusion tensor imaging allows the study of integrity of white matter (WM) tracts. Literature suggests that WM integrity could be altered in bipolar disorder. Heterogeneity of brain imaging methods, the studied samples, and drug treatments make localization, nature, and severity of the WM abnormalities unclear. Methods: We applied tract-based spatial statistics of diffusion tensor imaging measures to compare fractional anisotropy (FA), mean, and radial diffusivity of the WM skeleton in a group of 40 consecutively admitted inpatients affected by a major depressive episode without psychotic features with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder type I and 21 unrelated healthy volunteers f…
Patterns of evidence integration in schizophrenia and delusion.
2011
Previous studies documented a bias against disconfirmatory evidence (BADE) in patients affected by schizophrenia spectrum disorders, with some discrepant findings on its relationship with delusions. In order to further investigate the patterns of evidence integration in schizophrenia and delusion, we recruited 40 deluded and non-deluded patients with schizophrenia and 40 healthy control subjects. Participants were administered the BADE test, which consisted of 30 delusion-neutral scenarios, each one progressively described by three subsequent disambiguating statements and providing four types of interpretation to rate for plausibility; at every additional evidence presentation, participants…
Opposite effects of suicidality and lithium on gray matter volumes in bipolar depression
2011
Background: Mood disorders are associated with the highest increase of attempted and completed suicide. Suicidality in major depressive disorder and in schizophrenia has been associated with reduced gray matter volumes in orbitofrontal cortex. Lithium reduces the suicide risk of patients with bipolar disorder (BD) to the same levels of the general population, and can increase GM volumes. We studied the effect of a positive history of attempted suicide and ongoing lithium treatment on regional GM volumes of patients affected by bipolar depression. Methods: With a correlational design, we studied 57 currently depressed inpatients with bipolar disorder: 19 with and 38 without a positive histor…
Sterol Regulatory Element Binding Transcription Factor-1 Gene Variation and Medication Load Influence White Matter Structure in Schizophrenia
2014
<b><i>Background:</i></b> Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) studies have shown a widespread disruption of white matter (WM) microstructure in schizophrenia. Furthermore, higher fractional anisotropy (FA) has been consistently correlated with the severity of psychotic symptoms. Antipsychotic drugs (APDs) affect lipid homeostasis. Gene polymorphisms in sterol regulatory element binding transcription factor (SREBF)-1 and SREBF-2 have been associated with schizophrenia. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> In a sample of 65 patients affected by chronic schizophrenia, we investigated the effect of ongoing APD medication, SREBF-1 rs11868035<b> </b>polymo…
Clock genes beyond the clock: CLOCK genotype biases neural correlates of moral valence decision in depressed patients
2007
Gene polymorphisms in the mammalian biological clock system influence individual rhythms. A single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the 3' flanking region of CLOCK (3111 T/C; rs1801260) influenced diurnal preference in healthy humans and caused sleep phase delay and insomnia in patients affected by bipolar disorder. Genes of the biological clock are expressed in many brain structures other than in the 'master clock' suprachiasmatic nuclei. These areas, such as cingulate cortex, are involved in the control of many human behaviors. Clock genes could then bias 'nonclock' functions such as information processing and decision making. Thirty inpatients affected by a major depressive episode under…
Tract-specific white matter structural disruption in patients with bipolar disorder
2011
Benedetti F, Absinta M, Rocca MA, Radaelli D, Poletti S, Bernasconi A, Dallaspezia S, Pagani E, Falini A, Copetti M, Colombo C, Comi G, Smeraldi E, Filippi M. Tract-specific white matter structural disruption in patients with bipolar disorder. Bipolar Disord 2011: 13: 414–424. © 2011 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2011 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Objectives: A growing body of evidence suggests that, independent of localized brain lesions, mood disorders can be associated with dysfunction of brain networks involved in the modulation of emotional and cognitive behavior. We used diffusion tensor (DT) tractography to quantify the presence and extent of structural injury to the connections betwe…
Self-awareness of cognitive functioning in schizophrenia: Patients and their relatives
2010
"Cognitive impairment has been recognized since the earliest descriptions of schizophrenia as a core feature of the illness and different programmes have been developed to remediate these deficits. In all likelihood it is important for compliance and adherence to treatment that not only the patients but also their relatives be aware of the patients; cognitive deficits. Sixty-two patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia and, for each one of them, one family member and an informant from the medical staff, were recruited and administered the Schizophrenia Cognition Rating Scale (SCoRS) ratings. Patients were tested for cognitive deficits with a neuropsychological battery and their performanc…
Emotional reactivity in chronic schizophrenia: structural and functional brain correlates and the influence of adverse childhood experiences
2011
Background. Despite behavioural signs of flattened affect, patients affected by schizophrenia show enhanced sensitivity to negative stimuli. The current literature concerning neural circuitry for emotions supports dysregulations of cortico-limbic networks, but gives contrasting results. Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) could persistently influence emotional regulation and neural correlates of response to emotional stimuli in healthy humans. This study evaluated the effect of ACEs and chronic undifferentiated schizophrenia on neural responses to emotional stimuli (negative facial expression). Method. Brain blood-oxygen-level-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging neural response…
Neural and genetic correlates of antidepressant response to sleep deprivation - A functional magnetic resonance imaging study of moral valence decisi…
2007
Context: Total sleep deprivation combined with light therapy causes rapid amelioration of bipolar depression. A polymorphism in the promoter for the serotonin transporter influences both antidepressant response and the structure and function of specific brain areas. Objective: To determine whether antidepressant therapy or the genotype of the serotonin transporter influence the pattern of neural response to a task targeting the depressive biases in information processing (moral valence decision). Design: Before-and-after trial studying the biologic correlates of response to treatment. Setting: University hospital. Patients: Twenty inpatients with bipolar depression. Intervention: Repeated t…
Spectroscopic correlates of antidepressant response to sleep deprivation and light therapy: a 3.0 Tesla study of bipolar depression.
2007
Glutamate is the primary excitatory neurotransmitter of the human brain, and recent findings suggest a role for the glutamatergic system in the pathophysiology and treatment of mood disorders. Single proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) was used to study the relative in vivo levels of brain neural metabolites. We evaluated the effect of antidepressant treatments on the relative concentration of unresolved glutamate and glutamine (Glx) with GABA contamination (2.35 ppm peak) using single voxel 1H-MRS at 3.0 Tesla. We studied 19 inpatients (7 males, 12 females) affected by bipolar disorder type 1, current depressive episode without psychotic features, before and after 1 week of tre…
Behavioural sensitization to repeated sleep deprivation in a mice model of mania.
2008
Sensitization to the effect of stress has been hypothesized as a mechanism to explain episode recurrence and cycle acceleration in bipolar disorder. Naturalistic observations and experimental work in human patients suggested that sleep deprivation can trigger manic episodes of illness. In rats sleep deprivation (SD) with the platform method caused mania-like behaviours thus providing an animal model of mania with face, construct, and predictive validity. In the present study we administered SD or control stress to male CD1 mice following a dose-response protocol based on time of exposure to the experimental conditions (6, 12 or 24 h) and repetition of treatment (three times). SD, but not st…
Temporal lobe grey matter volume in schizophrenia is associated with a genetic polymorphism influencing glycogen synthase kinase 3-beta activity
2010
At the crossroad of multiple pathways regulating trophism and metabolism, glycogen synthase kinase (GSK)3 is considered a key factor in influencing the susceptibility of neurons to harmful stimuli (neuronal resilience) and is a target for several psychiatric drugs that directly inhibit it or increase its inhibitory phosphorylation. Inhibition of GSK3 prevents apoptosis and could protect against the neuropathological processes associated with psychiatric disorders. A GSK3-beta promoter single-nucleotide polymorphism (rs334558) influences transcriptional strength, and the less active form was associated with less detrimental clinical features of mood disorders. Here we studied the effect of r…
Neural responses to emotional stimuli in comorbid borderline personality disorder and bipolar depression
2010
"\"Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a severe clinical condition characterised by different maladaptive traits such as impulsivity and affective lability. Mood and emotion dysregulation are core features of affective disorders. Indeed patients affected by mood disorder (MD) have a significantly higher prevalence of comorbid BPD, resulting in more unstable mood and poorer response to medication. Blood oxygen level-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging has been used to investigate the neural correlates of emotional face processing. Images for each subject were entered into an analysis of variance (ANOVA) dividing participants into three groups (MD, MD + BPD, Controls). MD + B…
Computer-aided neurocognitive remediation in schizophrenia: durability of rehabilitation outcomes in a follow-up study.
2010
Cognitive deficits in patients with schizophrenia constitute a limiting factor to the chances of rehabilitation of daily living abilities, like personal and relational autonomy and working ability. Cognitive Remediation Therapy (CRT) is a rehabilitative technique that aims at the recovery of single cognitive functions through the execution of massive exercises of impaired cognitive domains. This study aims to establish if the results achieved through an intensive deficit-specific neurocognitive treatment of three months duration, were maintained over time. The sample consists in 100 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia according to the criteria of DSM IV. Patients were assessed on cognitiv…