Increased volume of the nucleus accumbens in schizophrenia

The nucleus accumbens, an integral and important part of limbic and prefrontal cortico-striato-pallidal-thalamic circuits, is involved in several cognitive, emotional and psychomotor functions altered in schizophrenia. In animal models, developmental disturbances within the entorhinal cortex and the hippocampus induce a dysregulation of inputs to the nucleus accumbens resulting in behavioral abnormalities which point to psychotic psychopathology. Nonetheless, due to the complex neuroanatomy of the human ventral striatum hardly any morphometric data on the nucleus accumbens are available.