This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Reply to article  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Citing articles on ISI (38)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Topic Collections  • Schizophrenia  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging  • Alert me on articles by topic

Hilleke E. Hulshoff Pol, PhD; Hugo G. Schnack, PhD; René C. W. Mandl, MS; Neeltje E. M. van Haren, MS; Hilde Koning, MS; D. Louis Collins, PhD; Alan C. Evans, PhD; René S. Kahn, MD, PhD

Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2001;58:1118-1125.

Background  The view that schizophrenia is a brain disease particularly involving decrements in gray matter is supported by findings from many imaging studies. However, it is unknown whether the (progressive) loss of tissue affects the brain globally or whether tissue loss is more prominent in some areas than in others.

Methods  Magnetic resonance whole brain images were acquired from 159 patients with schizophrenia or a schizophreniform disorder and 158 healthy subjects across a 55-year age span. Gray matter density maps were made and analyzed using voxel-based morphometry.

Results  Compared with healthy subjects, decreases in gray matter density were found in the left amygdala; left hippocampus; right supramarginal gyrus; thalamus; (orbito) frontal, (superior) temporal, occipitotemporal, precuneate, posterior cingulate, and insular cortices bilaterally in patients with schizophrenia or schizophreniform disorder. Compared with healthy subjects, increases in gray matter density were exclusively found in the right caudate and globus pallidus in patients with schizophrenia or schizophreniform disorder. A group-by-age interaction for density was found in the left amygdala, owing to a negative regression slope of gray matter density on age in the left amygdala in patients compared with healthy subjects.

Conclusions  Gray matter density is decreased in distinct focal areas in the brains of patients with schizophrenia or schizophreniform disorder. The decreased density in the left amygdala is more pronounced in older patients with schizophrenia.

From the Department of Psychiatry, University Medical Center, Utrecht, the Netherlands (Drs Hulshoff Pol, Schnack, and Kahn, Mr Mandl, and Mss van Haren and Koning); and the Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec (Drs Collins and Evans).

Correponding author and reprints: Hilleke E. Hulshoff Pol, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, A01.126 University Medical Center, Utrecht, 3584 CX Utrecht, the Netherlands (e-mail: h.e.hulshoff{at}psych.azu.nl).

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Tract-based Analysis of Magnetization Transfer Ratio and Diffusion Tensor Imaging of the Frontal and Frontotemporal Connections in Schizophrenia
Mandl et al.
Schizophr Bull 2008;0:sbn161v1-sbn161.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Morphometric Brain Abnormalities in Schizophrenia in a Population-Based Sample: Relationship to Duration of Illness
Tanskanen et al.
Schizophr Bull 2008;0:sbn141v1-sbn141.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

The Anatomy of First-Episode and Chronic Schizophrenia: An Anatomical Likelihood Estimation Meta-Analysis
Ellison-Wright et al.
Am. J. Psychiatry 2008;165:1015-1023.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

A Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study of Cingulate Gyrus Gray Matter Volume Abnormalities in First-Episode Schizophrenia and First-Episode Affective Psychosis
Koo et al.
Arch Gen Psychiatry 2008;65:746-760.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Anatomical Abnormalities of the Anterior Cingulate Cortex in Schizophrenia: Bridging the Gap Between Neuroimaging and Neuropathology
Fornito et al.
Schizophr Bull 2008;0:sbn025v1-sbn025.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Insolubility of Disrupted-in-Schizophrenia 1 Disrupts Oligomer-Dependent Interactions with Nuclear Distribution Element 1 and Is Associated with Sporadic Mental Disease
Leliveld et al.
J. Neurosci. 2008;28:3839-3845.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

What Happens After the First Episode? A Review of Progressive Brain Changes in Chronically Ill Patients With Schizophrenia
Hulshoff Pol and Kahn
Schizophr Bull 2008;34:354-366.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Genetic Contributions to Human Brain Morphology and Intelligence
Hulshoff Pol et al.
J. Neurosci. 2006;26:10235-10242.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Brain volume in first-episode schizophrenia: Systematic review and meta-analysis of magnetic resonance imaging studies
STEEN et al.
Br. J. Psychiatry 2006;188:510-518.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Regional Deficits in Brain Volume in Schizophrenia: A Meta-Analysis of Voxel-Based Morphometry Studies
Honea et al.
Am. J. Psychiatry 2005;162:2233-2245.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Whole-Brain Morphometric Study of Schizophrenia Revealing a Spatially Complex Set of Focal Abnormalities
Davatzikos et al.
Arch Gen Psychiatry 2005;62:1218-1227.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Regional volume deviations of brain structure in schizophrenia and psychotic bipolar disorder: Computational morphometry study
McDonald et al.
Br. J. Psychiatry 2005;186:369-377.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Association of Genetic Risks for Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder With Specific and Generic Brain Structural Endophenotypes
McDonald et al.
Arch Gen Psychiatry 2004;61:974-984.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Mapping Structural Brain Alterations in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Pujol et al.
Arch Gen Psychiatry 2004;61:720-730.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Absence of Cortical Gray Matter Abnormalities in Psychosis of Epilepsy: A Voxel-Based MRI Study in Patients With Temporal Lobe Epilepsy
Rusch et al.
J. Neuropsychiatry Clin. Neurosi. 2004;16:148-155.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

MRI Assessment of Gray and White Matter Distribution in Brodmann's Areas of the Cortex in Patients With Schizophrenia With Good and Poor Outcomes
Mitelman et al.
Am. J. Psychiatry 2003;160:2154-2168.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Emotions in Unmedicated Patients With Schizophrenia During Evaluation With Positron Emission Tomography
Paradiso et al.
Am. J. Psychiatry 2003;160:1775-1783.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Mediodorsal, Pulvinar, and Centromedian Nuclei of the Thalamus in Patients With Schizophrenia
Kemether et al.
Arch Gen Psychiatry 2003;60:983-991.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Regionally Localized Thinning of the Cerebral Cortex in Schizophrenia
Kuperberg et al.
Arch Gen Psychiatry 2003;60:878-888.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Gray and White Matter Brain Abnormalities in First-Episode Schizophrenia Inferred From Magnetization Transfer Imaging
Bagary et al.
Arch Gen Psychiatry 2003;60:779-788.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

A Computational Morphometric MRI Study of Schizophrenia: Effects of Hallucinations
Shapleske et al.
Cereb Cortex 2002;12:1331-1341.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Volume Changes in Gray Matter in Patients With Schizophrenia
Hulshoff Pol et al.
Am. J. Psychiatry 2002;159:244-250.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT