Department of Psychiatry, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
Department of Ophthalmology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
Psychiatry Res. 2018 May;263:158-161. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2018.03.011. Epub 2018 Mar 6.
Mounting evidence supports a genetic-vascular-inflammatory etiology of schizophrenia. The retina provides an indirect assessment of inflammation and degeneration in the brain. In particular, the use of spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) has emerged as a powerful tool for examining single retinal nerve cell layers and the choroid, the vascular layer supplying the outer retina. In this study, choroidal and macular thicknesses were measured in six patients with psychosis with either schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, and in 18 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Mean choroidal thickness was reduced in psychosis, though not significantly so. There was a statistically significant decrease in macular thickness in psychosis patients predominantly affecting the inner layers of the macula. Significant macular thinning may signal vascular, inflammatory, or degenerative processes that may also be occurring in the brain. This is one of the first studies to examine choroidal thickness in psychosis. Further studies are needed to determine whether the retinal changes in psychosis are correlated with microvascular dysfunction, neuroinflammation, and neurodegeneration.
越来越多的证据支持精神分裂症的遗传-血管-炎症病因。视网膜为大脑的炎症和退化提供了间接评估。特别是，使用频域光相干断层扫描（SD-OCT）已成为检查单个视网膜神经细胞层和脉络膜（为外视网膜提供血液的血管层）的有力工具。在这项研究中，测量了 6 名患有精神分裂症或双相情感障碍的精神病患者以及 18 名年龄和性别匹配的健康对照者的脉络膜和黄斑厚度。尽管精神病患者的脉络膜厚度有所降低，但无统计学意义。精神病患者的黄斑厚度出现统计学上的显著下降，主要影响黄斑的内层。显著的黄斑变薄可能表明血管、炎症或退行性过程也可能发生在大脑中。这是首次检查精神病患者脉络膜厚度的研究之一。需要进一步的研究来确定精神病中的视网膜变化是否与微血管功能障碍、神经炎症和神经退行性变有关。
