Limbic and striatal grey matter excess in first-onset schizophrenia

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: We performed voxel-based morphometric analysis of structural MRI scans of first-episode schizophrenic subjects to identify abnormality in the volume of brain regions. METHODS: Eighteen patients consecutively admitted to the Accident and Emergency Department with a first-episode diag-nosis of Schizophrenia were recruited. Twenty-eight normal healthy volunteers matched for age, sex, parental socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and handedness were recruited from the local community. Five patients were neuroleptic-naı¨ve, and the rest had received neuroleptic medication for an average of a week prior to scanning. The whole brain near axial dual-echo data set was analysed using BAMM software (Brain Analysis Morphological Mapping version 2.5, Cambridge University). This allowed fully automated brain segmentation into grey and white matter and significant volume differences between patient group and controls were mapped across the brain. RESULTS: Results indicated that the two groups did not differ in the whole brain volume, grey matter nor cerebrospinal fluid volume. However, significant unilateral grey matter excess in the patient group was noted in the cingulate gyrus, parahippocampal gyrus, caudate, putamen and globus pallidus. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that there is abnormality of the striato-limbic circuitry in early psychosis..