Adverse childhood experiences influence the detrimental effect of bipolar disorder and schizophrenia on cortico-limbic grey matter volumes

•Psychiatric diagnosis influence grey matter volume in BA 47 insula and thalamus.•HC had the highest, SCZ patients the lowest and BD patients an intermediate volume.•This pattern persisted only in subjects with high adverse childhood experiences.•No differences were observed for low adverse childhood experiences subjects.

BackgroundAdverse childhood experiences (ACE) can lead to several negative consequences in adult life, are highly prevalent in psychiatric disorders where they associate with clinical and brain morphological features. Grey matter volume loss is a central characteristic of bipolar disorder (BD) and schizophrenia (SCZ). The aim of this study is to measure the effect of diagnosis and ACE on GM volume in a sample of patients with BD or SCZ compared with healthy controls (HC).MethodsWe studied 206 depressed BD patients, 96 SCZ patients and 136 healthy subjects. GM volumes were estimated with 3.0 Tesla MRI and analyzed with VBM technique. The effect of diagnosis was investigated in the whole sample and separately exposed to high and low ACE subjects.ResultsAn effect of diagnosis was observed in orbitofrontal cortex encompassing BA 47 and insula, and in the thalamus. HC had the highest volume and SCZ patients the lowest with BD patients showing an intermediate volume. This pattern persisted only in subjects with high ACE. No differences were observed for low ACE subjects.LimitationsThe three diagnostic groups differ for age and education, previous and current medications, and treatment periods.ConclusionsOur results underline the importance of ACE on the neural underpinnings of psychiatric psychopathology and suggest a major role of exposure to ACE for the GM deficits to reveal in clinical populations. Exposure to early stress is a crucial factor that must be taken in to account when searching for biomarkers of BD and SCZ.