Amygdala volume in schizophrenia: post-mortem study and review of magnetic resonance imaging findings.
BACKGROUND
Claims that schizophrenia is a disease of the limbic system have been strengthened by meta-analyses of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies finding reduced hippocampus and amygdala volumes. Some post-mortem studies do not find these abnormalities.


OBJECTIVE
To assess the volume of the amygdala in a series of brains post-mortem.


METHODS
Amygdala volume was estimated using point-counting in both hemispheres of the brains of 10 male and 8 female patients with schizophrenia, and a comparison group of 9 males and 9 females.


RESULTS
No significant reduction of amygdala volume was found.


CONCLUSIONS
Significant volume reduction of the amygdala is not a consistent feature of schizophrenia; findings from early MRI studies using coarse delineation methods may introduce bias to subsequent meta-analyses.
Chance
Steven A
SA
University of Oxford, UK. steven.chance@clneuro.ox.ac.uk
Esiri
Margaret M
MM
Crow
Timothy J
TJ
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000679:Amygdala / Q000473:pathology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001344:Autopsy; D015982:Bias; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010865:Pilot Projects; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000473:pathology*