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Structural brain alterations at different stages of schizophrenia: a voxel-based morphometric study
E M Meisenzahl1, N Koutsouleris, R Bottlender
1Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Nussbaumstr. 7, 80336 Munich, Germany. eva.meisenzahl@med.uni-muenchen.de
Schizophrenia Research
|August 16, 2008
Summary
Structural brain changes in schizophrenia worsen with disease progression. Early-stage schizophrenia shows grey matter reductions in temporal and prefrontal areas, while recurrent illness involves additional regions like the basal ganglia.
Area of Science:
- Neuroimaging
- Psychiatry
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Schizophrenia is often viewed as a neurodevelopmental disorder with structural brain changes.
- It is unclear if the pattern of these morphological brain alterations differs across disease stages.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate and compare structural brain changes in first-episode schizophrenia (FES) and recurrently ill (REZ) patients versus healthy controls (HC).
- To determine if disease progression in schizophrenia leads to additional brain region involvement.
Main Methods:
- Cross-sectional and conjunctional voxel-based morphometry (VBM) analysis of whole-brain MRI data.
- Comparison of grey matter density (GMD) between 93 FES patients, 72 REZ patients, and 175 HC subjects.
Main Results:
- FES patients exhibited GMD reductions in temporal, prefrontal, and thalamic areas, including hippocampus and amygdala.
- REZ patients showed a spatially extended pattern of GMD reduction compared to FES patients.
- Basal ganglia showed GMD reductions exclusively in REZ patients, suggesting disease progression involves additional subcortical areas.
Conclusions:
- Schizophrenia involves system-specific neuronal networks, with alterations expanding in later disease stages.
- Advanced stages of schizophrenia are associated with increased involvement of cortical and subcortical brain areas.
- Longitudinal studies are needed to confirm the progressive nature of these structural brain changes.
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