engleski

Gray Matter Changes In Patients With Schizophrenia: A Voxel-Based Morphometry Study

Aim of the study: Schizophrenia is a severe form of mental illness. One of the hypothesis explains schizophrenia as a limited neurodegenerative process. A significant amount of evidence from structural brain imaging studies provide new insights into the neuroanatomical basis of schizophrenia. We investigated whole brain gray matter differences between patients with first-episode schizophrenia and normal controls, as well as differences between chronic schizophrenia patients and normal controls. Methods: A group of 51 schizophrenia patients (20 with first episode schizophrenia and 31 with chronic schizophrenia) and 30 age and gender matched normal controls were included. All participants underwent high-resolution T1-weighted MRI scans on a 1.5 T scanner. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) is an adaptation of the statistical parametric mapping (SPM) technique that allows investigators to quantitatively examine brain structural changes. VBM data of first-episode schizophrenia patients were compared with those of normal controls, as well as VBM data of chronic schizophrenia patients with normal controls. Results: Patients with first-episode schizophrenia had reduced gray matter volume (GMV) in anterior cingulate gyrus, medial temporal lobe and in middle and superior temporal gyrus compared with normal controls. Patients with chronic schizophrenia showed decreased GMV in medial and inferior frontal and superior temporal gyrus, thalamus and insula compared with normal controls. Conclusion: GMV reduction in schizophrenia is already evident in the first presentation of illness. By the time that the illness progresses volume reduction becomes more prominent in different brain regions.

voxel-based morphometry; gray matter volume; statistical parametric mapping; schizophrenia

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