Archival ReportAbnormal Auditory N100 Amplitude: A Heritable Endophenotype in First-Degree Relatives of Schizophrenia Probands
Section snippets
Subject Ascertainment
Adults with and without schizophrenia were recruited through flyers and print and electronic media. Schizophrenia subjects were also ascertained by mental health providers and local chapters of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Pedigrees were ascertained through the identified probands who met DSM-IV criteria for schizophrenia. The minimum requirement for pedigree ascertainment in COGS was a schizophrenia proband, two parents and one sibling unaffected with schizophrenia to provide DNA
Heritability
Heritability estimates are presented in Table 3. All dependent measures exhibited statistically significant heritability, with S1 being the most and S2/S1 the least heritable. Age and gender were significant covariates for S1, but not S2.
Bivariate Correlations
Table 4 presents the bivariate Pearson correlations for the three dependent measures for the total sample and separately within each diagnostic group. There was a moderate association between S1 and S2, which was comparable across the three groups. Stimulus
Discussion
These findings support two basic conclusions: 1) N100 amplitude is a robust heritable trait; and 2) reduced N100 amplitude, which has been observed repeatedly in schizophrenia patients, is also present in a subset of unaffected first-degree relatives. This simple measure of auditory sensory processing therefore appears to meet two essential criteria of a viable endophenotype for genetic studies. A similar conclusion cannot be drawn for N100 gating. Although the gating measure was heritable, it
References (53)
- et al.
Auditory event-related potentials and clinical scores in unmedicated schizophrenic patients
Psychiatry Res
(1999) - et al.
Disorders of smooth pursuit eye movement and auditory N100 in schizophrenic patients
Psychiatry Res
(1992) - et al.
Inter-modal attention: ERPs to auditory targets in an inter-modal oddball task
Int J Psychophysiol
(2006) - et al.
Auditory event-related potential abnormalities in bipolar disorder and schizophrenia
Int J Psychophysiol
(2004) - et al.
Response to the first stimulus determines reduced auditory evoked response suppression in schizophrenia: Single trial analysis using MEG
Clin Neurophysiol
(2001) - et al.
Sensory gating deficits during the mid-latency phase of information processing in medicated schizophrenia patients
Psychiatry Res
(2004) - et al.
Alternative phenotypes for the complex genetics of schizophrenia
Biol Psychiatry
(1999) - et al.
Event-related potentials in schizophrenics
Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol
(1980) - et al.
Diminished responsiveness of ERPs in schizophrenic subjects to changes in auditory stimulation parameters: Implications for theories of cortical dysfunction
Schizophr Res
(1999) - et al.
Auditory recovery cycle dysfunction in schizophrenia: A study using event-related potentials
Psychiatry Res
(2005)