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Hypothalamus volume in twin pairs discordant for schizophrenia
P Cédric M P Koolschijn1, Neeltje E M van Haren, Hilleke E Hulshoff Pol
1Rudolf Magnus Institute for Neuroscience, Department of Psychiatry, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands. p.c.m.p.koolschijn@umcutrecht.nl <p.c.m.p.koolschijn@umcutrecht.nl>
Abstract:
Monozygotic and same-sex dizygotic twin pairs discordant for schizophrenia were compared with matched control twin pairs in order to disentangle genetic and environmental contributions to variation in hypothalamus volume. A decrease in hypothalamus volume was found in patients or discordant twin pairs compared to healthy controls which could be attributed to the decrease in total brain volume. Higher within-twin pair similarities in monozygotic compared to dizygotic twin pairs, suggests that hypothalamus volume might be partly genetically controlled.
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