Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, London, UK.
Schizophr Res. 2010 Jun;119(1-3):75-8. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2009.12.021. Epub 2010 Jan 13.
This study investigated the relationship between cortisol secretion and hippocampal volume in first-episode psychosis and healthy controls. Hippocampal volume was measured by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in 24 first-episode psychosis patients and in 18 healthy controls, together with diurnal cortisol levels. Twelve patients received a second MRI scan at 3-month follow-up. Diurnal cortisol levels were inversely correlated with left hippocampal volume in patients, both at baseline and at follow-up, while no correlation was found in controls. Our findings suggest that smaller hippocampal volume in first-episode psychosis can partly be explained by stress-related processes in the brain, as measured by cortisol hyper-secretion.
这项研究调查了首发精神病患者和健康对照组中皮质醇分泌与海马体积之间的关系。通过磁共振成像（MRI）测量了 24 名首发精神病患者和 18 名健康对照者的海马体积，同时测量了日间皮质醇水平。12 名患者在 3 个月随访时接受了第二次 MRI 扫描。患者在基线和随访时，日间皮质醇水平与左侧海马体积呈负相关，而对照组则没有相关性。我们的研究结果表明，首发精神病患者的海马体积较小，部分原因是大脑中应激相关过程导致皮质醇过度分泌。
