Correlations between MRI-assessed volumes of the thalamus and cortical Brodmann's areas in schizophrenia.
BACKGROUND
We compared the thalamic-cortical volumetric correlational patterns in patients with schizophrenia and normal comparison subjects, and evaluated their relations to outcome.


METHODS
High-resolution MR images were acquired in patients with schizophrenia (n=106) and normal comparison subjects (n=42). Patients were divided into good-outcome (n=52) and poor-outcome (Kraepelinian, n=54) subtypes based on their ability for self-care. Correlations between the relative gray and white matter volumes of the individual cortical Brodmann's areas and five dorsoventral levels of the thalamus were assessed.


RESULTS
Compared to normal subjects, schizophrenia patients lacked significant thalamic gray matter volume correlations with the prefrontal and medial temporal cortical regions in the right hemisphere, and with frontal, cingulate, posterior parietal and occipital regions in the left hemisphere, while normal white matter volume cortical-thalamic correlations along the cingulate gyrus and in the temporal lobe were not found in schizophrenia patients in both hemispheres. In contrast to both normal comparison subjects and good-outcome group, schizophrenia patients with poor outcomes showed significant bilateral gray matter volume correlations between the dorsal thalamus and ventral prefrontal cortex, while the group differences in the white matter volume correlations were mostly restricted to the cingulate arch.


CONCLUSIONS
Whereas patients with schizophrenia exhibit deficiencies in cortical-thalamic correlational patterns, poor outcome is associated with abnormal interregional correlations not observed in either normal subjects or patients with good outcomes. This latter finding may be explained by a core neurodevelopmental disturbance that results in aberrant cortical-thalamic connectivity in poor-outcome schizophrenia.
Mitelman
Serge A
SA
Department of Psychiatry, Neuroscience PET Laboratory, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY 10029, USA. serge.mitelman@mssm.edu
Brickman
Adam M
AM
Shihabuddin
Lina
L
Newmark
Randall
R
Chu
King Wai
KW
Buchsbaum
Monte S
MS
D000328:Adult; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000002:abnormalities / Q000503:physiopathology; D003710:Demography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000503:physiopathology; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013788:Thalamus / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000503:physiopathology*