A systematic review and meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies examining synaptic density in individuals with psychotic spectrum disorders
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Abstract Background Psychotic disorders have long been considered neurodevelopmental disorders where excessive synaptic pruning and cortical volume loss are central to disease pathology. We conducted a systematic review of the literature to identify neuroimaging studies specifically examining synaptic density across the psychosis spectrum. Methods PRISMA guidelines on reporting were followed. We systematically searched MEDLINE, Embase, APA PsycINFO, Web of Science and The Cochrane Library from inception to December 8, 2023, and included all original peer-reviewed articles or completed clinical neuroimaging studies of any modality measuring synaptic density in participants with a diagnosis of psychosis spectrum disorder as well as individuals with psychosis-risk states. The NIH quality assessment tool for observational cohort and cross-sectional studies was used for the risk of bias assessment. Results Five studies (k = 5) met inclusion criteria, comprising n = 128 adults (psychotic disorder; n = 61 and healthy volunteers; n = 67 and specifically measuring synaptic density via positron emission tomography (PET) imaging of the synaptic vesicle glycoprotein 2 A (SV2A). Three studies were included in our primary meta-analysis sharing the same outcome measure of SV2A binding, volume of distribution (VT). Regional SV2A VT was reduced in psychotic disorder participants in comparison to healthy volunteers, including the occipital lobe (Mean Difference (MD)= -2.17; 95% CI: -3.36 to -0.98; P < 0.001 ), temporal lobe (MD: -2.03; 95% CI: -3.19 to -0.88; P < 0.001 ), parietal lobe (MD:-1.61; 95% CI: -2.85 to -0.37; P = 0.01), anterior cingulate cortex (MD= -1.47; 95% CI: -2.45 to -0.49; P = 0.003), frontal cortex (MD: -1.16; 95% CI: -2.18 to -0.15; P = 0.02), amygdala (MD: -1.36; 95% CI: -2.20 to -0.52, p = 0.002), thalamus (MD:-1.46; 95% CI:-2.46 to -0.46, p = 0.004) and hippocampus (MD= -0.96; 95% CI: -1.59 to -0.33; P = 0.003). Conclusions Preliminary studies provide in vivo evidence for reduced synaptic density in psychotic disorders. However, replication of findings in larger samples is required prior to definitive conclusions being drawn. PROSPERO CRD42022359018.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.023 | 0.060 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.003 | 0.002 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.023 | 0.039 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.011 | 0.011 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.004 | 0.002 |
| Open science | 0.003 | 0.002 |
| Research integrity | 0.003 | 0.002 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.004 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".