The corpus callosum develops in intimate association with the fornix, hippocampal formation, septum pellucidum and cingulate gyrus. Since Rosenthal and Bigelow first discovered structural abnormalities of corpus callosum in the postmortem
schizophrenic
brains in 1972, Nasrallah et al confirmed their findings with MRI in 1986.
The aims of this study were to identify the subtle structural changes of corpus callosum in the schizophrenics, and to evaluate the influence of sex, clinical symptoms, onset age, seasons of birth, on the structural changes of corpus callosum.
25 Schizophrenics(12 females, 13 males) and 25 neurotic controls(18 females, 7 males) were selected as subjects. The T1 weighted images(TR/TE=500msec/20msec) of corpus callosum at the midsagittal plane were divided into anterior, middle and
posteror
portions. Then the various callosal dimensions including the vertical and perpendicular widths(mm) and the areas(mm2) of each portions, and the maximum horizontal lengths(mm) were measured by the automated image analysis system.
1) There were no significant differences in the callosal area and the maximum horizontal lengths between controls and schizophrenics. The anterior vertical widths, and the perpendicular widths of genu and body of corpus callosum were
significantly
thicker in the schizophrenics(p<0.05).
2) Male schizophrenics had significantly thicker middle perpendicular widths and anterior vertical widths(p<0.05).
3) The schizophrenics with positive symptoms had significantly thicker middle perpendicular widths than those of controls9p<0.05) and negative schizophrenics(p<0.05). The middle vertical widths of positive schizophrenics were significantly
thicker
than
those of negative schizophrenics(p<0.05). However, the posterior perpendicular widths of negative schizophrenics were significantly thinner than those of positive schizophrenics(p<0.05).
4) The callosal dimensions were not significantly difference between early onset schizophrenics, late onset schizophrenics and controls.
5) The schizophrenics born in the cold weather and significantly thicker middle perpendicular widths than those of controls(p<0.05).
6) Though various callosal dimension were not correlated with age, total IQ and duration of illness, the anterior and posterior areas and the maximum horizontal lengths were positively correlated with height.
In conclusion, we could find morphological differences like thickened genu and body of corpus callosum instead of quantitative structural changes in the schizophrenics. Structural and functional abnormalities of neighborhood structures,
especially
frontal and temporal cortices and related limbic structures were suggested.
|