title: Source-based morphometry of gray matter volume in patients with schizophrenia who have persistent auditory verbal hallucinations.
abstract: Abnormal structure of frontal and temporal brain regions has been suggested to occur in patients with schizophrenia who have frequent auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH). However, it is unknown whether this is specific to this patient subgroup. This study tested the hypothesis that frontotemporal gray matter volume changes would characterize patients with persistent AVH (pAVH) in contrast to healthy controls and patients without AVH. Using structural magnetic resonance imaging at 3T, we studied 20 patients with schizophrenia and 14 matched healthy controls. Ten patients were classified as having chronic and treatment resistant AVH, whereas the remaining 10 patients either never had AVH in the past or were in full remission with regard to AVH (nAVH). Using a multivariate statistical technique for structural data, i.e. "source-based morphometry" (SBM), we investigated naturally grouping patterns of gray matter volume variation among individuals, the magnitude of their expression between-groups and the relationship between gray matter volume and AVH-specific measures. SBM identified a reduction of medial and inferior frontal, insular and bilateral temporal gray matter volume between pAVH and nAVH. This pattern did not differ between nAVH patients and controls and was associated with "physical" AVH characteristics (such as symptom duration, location, frequency and intensity) in the pAVH patient group. These results suggest that a pattern of lower gray matter volume in medial frontal, insular and bilateral temporal cortical regions differentiates between patients with persistent AVH and non-hallucinating patients. Moreover, the data support a specific role of this neural pattern in AVH symptom expression.
authors: Center for Psychosocial Medicine, Department of General Psychiatry, University of Heidelberg, Germany.
authors: Katharina M
authors: KM
authors: Kubera
authors: Brain Center for Motor and Social Cognition, Italian Institute of Technology, Parma, Italy.
authors: Fabio
authors: F
authors: Sambataro
authors: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy III, Ulm University, Germany.
authors: Nenad
authors: N
authors: Vasic
authors: Central Institute of Mental Health, Department of Addictive Behavior and Addiction Medicine, Mannheim, Germany.
authors: Nadine D
authors: ND
authors: Wolf
authors: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy II,Ulm University, Germany.
authors: Karel
authors: K
authors: Frasch
authors: Center for Psychosocial Medicine, Department of General Psychiatry, University of Heidelberg, Germany.
authors: Dusan
authors: D
authors: Hirjak
authors: Center for Psychosocial Medicine, Department of General Psychiatry, University of Heidelberg, Germany.
authors: Philipp A
authors: PA
authors: Thomann
authors: Center for Psychosocial Medicine, Department of General Psychiatry, University of Heidelberg, Germany. Electronic address: christian.wolf@med.uni-heidelberg.de.
authors: R Christian
authors: RC
authors: Wolf
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001284:Atrophy / Q000473:pathology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000473:pathology; D006212:Hallucinations / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D036421:Nerve Fibers, Unmyelinated / Q000473:pathology*; D059906:Neuroimaging; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology*; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000473:pathology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Auditory verbal hallucinations; Magnetic resonance imaging; Schizophrenia; Source-based-morphometry; Voxel-based morphometry