Reduced left angular gyrus volume in first-episode schizophrenia.
OBJECTIVE
Research suggests that the normal left-greater-than-right angular gyrus volume asymmetry is reversed in chronic schizophrenia. The authors examined whether angular gyrus volume and asymmetry were abnormal in patients with first-episode schizophrenia.


METHODS
Magnetic resonance imaging scans were obtained from 14 inpatients at their first hospitalization for psychosis and 14 normal comparison subjects. Manual editing was undertaken to delineate postcentral, supramarginal, and angular gyri gray matter volumes.


RESULTS
Group comparisons revealed that the left angular gyrus gray matter volume in patients was 14.8% less than that of the normal subjects. None of the other regions measured showed significant group volume or asymmetry differences.


CONCLUSIONS
Patients with new-onset schizophrenia showed smaller left angular gyrus volumes than normal subjects, consistent with other studies showing parietal lobe volume abnormalities in schizophrenia. Angular gyrus pathology in first-episode patients suggests that the angular gyrus may be a neuroanatomical substrate for the expression of schizophrenia.
Nierenberg
Jay
J
Center for Advanced Brain Imaging, Nathan S. Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, Orangeburg, NY, USA.
Salisbury
Dean F
DF
Levitt
James J
JJ
David
Elizabeth A
EA
McCarley
Robert W
RW
Shenton
Martha E
ME
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001284:Atrophy; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000473:pathology*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology*