Regional changes in brain gray and white matter volumes in patients with schizophrenia

Thirty-four medicated patients with schizophrenia (19 men and 15 women) (mean age, 27.7 +/- 5.2 years) were compared with 31 age- and sex-matched healthy volunteers on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Automated volume analysis on three-dimensional MRI was conducted using statistical parametric mapping (SPM) 96. Compared with the controls, relative gray matter volume in the patients was significantly reduced in the left middle and inferior frontal, left superior temporal, left anterior cingulate, medial part of the right superior frontal, and bilateral medial temporal areas. In the white matter, significant volume reduction was found in the bilateral anterior limbs of the internal capsule and the left superior occipitofrontal fasciculus. These findings may imply a morphological substrate for abnormalities in the frontothalamic and frontotemporal connectivity in schizophrenia.