Evidence of Slow Neural Processing, Developmental Differences and Sensitivity to Cannabis Effects in a Sample at Clinical High Risk for Psychosis From the NAPLS Consortium Assessed With the Human Startle Paradigm

Frontiers in Psychiatry

Peter Bauchman²  Brian Roach²  Dan Mathalon²  Ayse Belger³  Franc Donkers³  Diana O. Perkins³  Margaret Niznikiewicz⁴  Larry J. Seidman⁴  Carrie Bearden⁶  Jason Johannesen⁷  Thomas H. McGlashan⁷  Tyrone D. Cannon⁷  Scott W. Woods⁷  Elaine F. Walker⁸  Erica Duncan⁹  Gregory Light^1,10  Kristin S. Cadenhead^1,10  Ming Tsuang^1,10  Jason Nunag^1,10  Jean Addington^1,12  Ricardo E. Carrión^1,13  Barbara A. Cornblatt^1,13 

[1] 0University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States;1San Francisco VA Medical Center, San Francisco, VA, United States;2University of North Carolina (UNC), Chapel Hill, NC, United States;3Department of Psychiatry, Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States;Department of Psychiatry and Psychology, The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, Manhasset, NY, United States;Department of Psychiatry and Psychology, University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA, United States;Department of Psychiatry and Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, United States;Department of Psychiatry, Atlanta Veterans Affairs Healthcare System, Decatur, GA, United States;Department of Psychiatry, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, United States;Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego (UCSD), La Jolla, CA, United States;Department of Psychology, Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine, Hempstead, NY, United States;Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada;The Zucker Hillside Hospital, New York, NY, United States;

关键词: prodrome;    schizophrenia;    cannabis;    latency;    startle;    prepulse inhibition;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00833

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

AbstractBiomarkers are important in the study of the prodromal period of psychosis because they can help to identify individuals at greatest risk for future psychotic illness and provide insights into disease mechanism underlying neurodevelopmental abnormalities. The biomarker abnormalities can then be targeted with treatment, with an aim toward prevention or mitigation of disease. The human startle paradigm has been used in translational studies of psychopathology including psychotic illness to assess preattentive information processing for over 50 years. In one of the largest studies to date in clinical high risk (CHR) for psychosis participants, we aimed to evaluate startle indices as biomarkers of risk along with the role of age, sex, treatment, and substance use in this population of high risk individuals.MethodsStartle response reactivity, latency, and prepulse inhibition (PPI) were assessed in 543 CHR and 218 Normal Comparison (NC) participants between the ages of 12 and 35.ResultsAt 1 year follow-up, 58 CHR participants had converted to psychosis. CHR and NC groups did not differ across any of the startle measures but those CHR participants who later converted to psychosis had significantly slower startle latency than did those who did not convert to psychosis, and this effect was driven by female CHR participants. PPI was significantly associated with age in the CHR, but not the NC, participants with the greatest positive age correlations present in those CHR participants who later converted to psychosis, consistent with a prior report. Finally, there was a significant group by cannabis use interaction due to greater PPI in cannabis users and opposite PPI group effects in users (CHR>NC) and non-users (NC>CHR).DiscussionThis is the first study to demonstrate a relationship of startle response latency to psychotic conversion in a CHR population. PPI is an important biomarker that may be sensitive to the neurodevelopmental abnormalities thought to be present in psychosis prone individuals and the effects of cannabis. The significant correlations with age in this sample as well as the finding of greater PPI in CHR cannabis users replicate findings from another large sample of CHR participants.

【 授权许可】

Unknown