Schizophrenia associated with low vitamin D (97 percent) and smaller right hippocampus

Serum vitamin D and hippocampal gray matter volume in schizophrenia

Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, Volume 233, Issue 2, 30 August 2015, Pages 175–179; doi:10.1016/j.pscychresns.2015.06.006

Venkataram Shivakumara, b, c, Sunil V. Kalmadya, b, Anekal C. Amareshaa, b, Dania Josea, b, Janardhanan C. Narayanaswamya, b, Sri Mahavir Agarwala, b, Boban Josepha, b, Ganesan Venkatasubramaniana, b, , , Vasanthapuram Ravid, Matcheri S. Keshavane, Bangalore N. Gangadhara

Highlights

• Vitamin D deficiency might be one of the contributing factors in schizophrenia pathogenesis.

• Hippocampal abnormalities are established in schizophrenia.

• Hippocampus expresses high levels of vitamin D receptors.

• Serum vitamin D level correlated positively with hippocampus volume in schizophrenia patients.

Disparate lines of evidence including epidemiological and case-control studies have increasingly implicated vitamin D in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. Vitamin D deficiency can lead to dysfunction of the hippocampus – a brain region hypothesized to be critically involved in schizophrenia. In this study, we examined for potential association between serum vitamin D level and hippocampal gray matter volume in antipsychotic-naïve or antipsychotic-free schizophrenia patients (n=35). Serum vitamin D level was estimated using 25-OH vitamin D immunoassay. Optimized voxel-based morphometry was used to analyze 3-Tesla magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) (1-mm slice thickness).

Ninety-seven percent of the schizophrenia patients (n=34) had sub-optimal levels of serum vitamin D (83%, deficiency; 14%, insufficiency). A significant positive correlation was seen between vitamin D and regional gray matter volume in the right hippocampus after controlling for age, years of education and total intracranial volume (Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) coordinates: x=35, y=−18, z=−8; t=4.34 pFWECorrected=0.018). These observations support a potential role of vitamin D deficiency in mediating hippocampal volume deficits, possibly through neurotrophic, neuroimmunomodulatory and glutamatergic effects.

See also VitaminDWiki

• Schizophrenia associated with low vitamin D – review Dec 2014

• Smaller brains (Intracranial Volume) associated with lower vitamin D – July 2018

• Overview Schizophrenia and Vitamin D contains the following summary

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