Schizophrenia research

Although the neurobiology of mental illnesses in general—and in this instance schizophrenia—remains elusive, several recent studies point to some convergence in the genetics of schizophrenia.

Abstract

The aim of the study was to investigate whether there is any structural evidence for the model of `cognitive dysmetria' in schizophrenia if an automatic whole-brain analysis method is used. High-resolution magnetic resonance scans were obtained for 75 schizophrenic patients and 75 controls. These data were analysed using the recently developed deformation-based morphometry allowing the assessment of volumetric diVerences without a priori definition of regions of interest. When compared with controls, we found reduced volumes in patients with schizophrenia in the frontal lobe (gyrus frontalis superior, medius and medialis), the temporal lobe (gyrus temporalis superior and inferior), the thalamus, the left cerebellar hemisphere and the right cerebellar vermis. There was an increase in volume in the right putamen. To date, this is the first structural magnetic resonance imaging study to demonstrate that the three key-elements of the model of cognitive dysmetria --- frontal lobe, thalamus, and cerebellum --- are reduced in volume in schizophrenic patients. This highlights the importance of this concept for future investigations. 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.