title: Lack of normal structural asymmetry of the anterior cingulate gyrus in female patients with schizophrenia: a volumetric magnetic resonance imaging study.
abstract: We investigated anterior cingulate gyrus (ACG) volume in 40 patients with schizophrenia (20 males, 20 females) and 40 age-and sex-matched normal controls using three-dimensional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Volumes of the whole brain and both the gray and white matter of the ACG were measured on consecutive coronal 1-mm slices. There was no significant difference between the patients with schizophrenia and the normal controls in the whole brain volume. Right ACG gray matter volume was significantly reduced in the female patients with schizophrenia as compared with the female controls. Furthermore.in the female controls, ACG gray matter volume was significantly larger on the right than on the left, while this asymmetry was not significant in the female patients. ACG white matter findings were similar to those of the ACG gray matter in that the volume was significantly larger on the right in the female controls, and this normal structural asymmetry was reduced in the female patients. These results suggest that gender may play an important role in the structural asymmetry anomalies in schizophrenia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuropsychiatry, Toyama Medical and Pharmaceutical University, 2630 Sugitani, Toyama 930-0194, Japan. tsutomu@ms.toyama-mpu.ac.jp
authors.forename: Tsutomu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: Yasuhiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kawasaki
authors.forename: Kenzo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kurokawa
authors.forename: Hirofumi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hagino
authors.forename: Shigeru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nohara
authors.forename: Ikiko
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Yamashita
authors.forename: Kazue
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: Masahiko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Murata
authors.forename: Mie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Matsui
authors.forename: Michio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Hikaru
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Seto
authors.forename: Masayoshi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kurachi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002908:Chronic Disease; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D012016:Reference Values; D012737:Sex Factors