Frontal Substructural Abnormalities Evaluated by the Parcellation of MRI in Patients with Schizophrenia.
- Author:
Jae Jin KIM
1
;
Jun Soo KWON
;
Do Hyung KANG
;
Tak YOUN
;
Moon Hee HAN
;
Kee Hyun CHANG
Author Information
1. Department of Psychiatry, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
- Publication Type:Original Article
- Keywords:
Schizophrenia;
Hypofrontality;
Frontal substructures;
MRI
- MeSH:
Healthy Volunteers;
Humans;
Magnetic Resonance Imaging*;
Neuroimaging;
Prefrontal Cortex;
Schizophrenia*
- From:Journal of Korean Neuropsychiatric Association
2002;41(6):998-1009
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:Korean
-
Abstract:
OBJECTIVES: Although most of the functional and structural neuroimaging studies have reported the association of the that cognitive deficits in patients with schizophrenia with the pathophysiology of the prefrontal cortex, their findings vary considerably. Based on the precise parcellation methods, this study was designed to investigate substructural abnormalities of the prefrontal cortex in patients with schizophrenia. METHODS: The subjects consisted of twelve patients with schizophrenia and 12 age- and sexmatched normal volunteers. Magnetic resonance images were obtained in all subjects, and parceled into 8 frontal substructures using the topographic landmarks. The frontal substructural volumes were compared between the two groups, and their correlations with the schizophrenic symptom severity were analysed in the patient group. RESULTS: In the comparison of substructural volumes, most frontal substructures of the patient group tended to be smaller than those of the normal comparison group; particularly the right supplementary motor area was significantly smaller(p<0.003). Negative symptoms tended to be inversely correlated with the frontal substructural volumes, particularly with the right superior frontal gyral volume(gamma= -0.70, p=0.01). CONCLUSION: These findings suggest the possibility of structural defects related to 'hypofrontality' in schizophrenia. These frontal structural defects may be the basis of neurocognitive deficits and neural circuital dysfunction in schizophrenia.
