Cerebral Cortex Advance Access originally published online on March 17, 2006
Cerebral Cortex 2007 17(2):415-424; doi:10.1093/cercor/bhj158
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Regionally Specific Cortical Thinning and Gray Matter Abnormalities in the Healthy Relatives of Schizophrenia Patients
1 Department of Psychology, 2 Department of Radiology, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, USA, 3 Imaging Research Center, University of California-Davis, USA
Address correspondence to Angus W. MacDonald III, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, N218 Elliott Hall, 75 East River Road, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA. Email: angus{at}umn.edu.
Accumulated evidence suggests that schizophrenia is associated with subtle gray matter deficits throughout the cerebral cortex and regional cortical thinning. Although findings are not entirely consistent, healthy relatives of schizophrenia patients also show abnormalities in cortical gray matter volume, suggesting that this may be one aspect of an unexpressed genetic liability to the disorder. Cortical thickness and surface area are additional indicators of cortical cytoarchitectural integrity. To investigate the nature of cortical abnormalities in the healthy relatives of patients, this study used magnetic resonance imaging to evaluate gray matter volume, surface area, and thickness of 13 regions using an automated parcellation methodology. Compared with controls (n = 22), relatives (n = 19) had decreased volume and surface area in the right cingulate gyrus, a bilateral decrease in cingulate thickness, and decreased surface area in the superior temporal lobe. In addition, relatives had a subtle increase in gray matter volume and surface area in the left hemisphere, bilaterally in the parahippocampal gyri, and in the left middle temporal lobe. The results of this study suggest that the cortical regions most affected by the unexpressed genetic liability to schizophrenia may be the cingulate and temporal regionsregions associated with higher level cognitive, affective, and memory functions.
Key Words: cingulate cortical thickness endophenotype family study magnetic resonance imaging temporal lobe
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