title: Reduction of gyrification index in the cerebellar vermis in schizophrenia: a post-mortem study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  In schizophrenia, alterations of the gyrification index (GI) have been measured in cortical brain regions and are related to neurodevelopmental disturbances. Cerebellar regions have been implicated in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia; however, the GI has not been investigated here so far.
  
  
  METHODS
  Hence, in a post-mortem study we investigated the GI separately from the vermis, left and right hemisphere of the medial posterior cerebellum in nine schizophrenia patients and 10 healthy controls. GI was defined as length of the inner contour inclusively depth of the sulci divided by length of the outer contour of the cerebellar surface and measured by tracing contours on images obtained by a stereological workstation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the vermis, GI was reduced in schizophrenia patients according to the methods of Zilles (P = 0.020) and Vogeley (P = 0.015). In the hemispheres, no differences have been observed. GI obtained by the two methods showed a high correlation (P < 0.001). Correlation analysis showed no influence of gender, postmortem interval and age.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Decreased GI in the vermis of schizophrenia patients may result from neurodevelopmental disturbances, since folding of the brain occurs mainly during the perinatal period. MRI studies using automated GI processing in larger samples are needed to confirm our results.
authors: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Goettingen, von-Siebold Str. 5, 37075 Goettingen, Germany. aschmit@gwdg.de
authors: Andrea
authors: A
authors: Schmitt
authors: Wiebke
authors: W
authors: Schulenberg
authors: Hans-Gert
authors: HG
authors: Bernstein
authors: Johann
authors: J
authors: Steiner
authors: Thomas
authors: T
authors: Schneider-Axmann
authors: Peyman
authors: P
authors: Yeganeh-Doost
authors: Berend
authors: B
authors: Malchow
authors: Alkomiet
authors: A
authors: Hasan
authors: Oliver
authors: O
authors: Gruber
authors: Bernhard
authors: B
authors: Bogerts
authors: Peter
authors: P
authors: Falkai
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000473:pathology*; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012016:Reference Values; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000473:pathology*; D013132:Spinocerebellar Degenerations / Q000473:pathology*