Increased parahippocampal and lingual gyrification in first-episode schizophrenia

Cerebral gyrification is attributed to a large extent to genetic and intrauterine/perinatal factors. Hence, investigating gyrification might offer important evidence for disturbed neurodevelopmental mechanisms in schizophrenia. As an extension of recent ROI analyses of gyrification in schizophrenia the present study is the first to compare on a node-by-node basis mean curvature as a sensitive parameter for the identification of local gyrification changes of the whole cortex in first-episode schizophrenia.

A group of 54 patients with first-episode schizophrenia according to DSM-IV and 54 age and gender matched healthy control subjects were included. All participants underwent high-resolution T1-weighted MRI scans on a 1.5 T scanner. Mean curvature was calculated dividing the sum of the principal curvatures by two at each point of the curved surface as implemented in the Freesurfer Software package. Statistical cortical maps were created to estimate gyrification differences between groups based on a clustering approach.

A significantly increased gyrification was observed in first-episode schizophrenia patients relative to controls in a right parahippocampal-lingual cortex area. The cluster encompassed a surface area of 750 mm². A further analysis of cortical thickness of this cluster demonstrated concurrent significant reduced cortical thickness of this area.

This is the first study to reveal an aberrant gyrification of the medial surface in first-episode schizophrenia. This finding is in line with substantial evidence showing medial temporal lobe abnormalities in schizophrenia. The present morphometric data provide further support for an early disruption of cortical maturation in schizophrenia.