title: Structural alterations of the social brain: a comparison between schizophrenia and autism.
abstract: Autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia share a substantial number of etiologic and phenotypic characteristics. Still, no direct comparison of both disorders has been performed to identify differences and commonalities in brain structure. In this voxel based morphometry study, 34 patients with autism spectrum disorder, 21 patients with schizophrenia and 26 typically developed control subjects were included to identify global and regional brain volume alterations. No global gray matter or white matter differences were found between groups. In regional data, patients with autism spectrum disorder compared to typically developed control subjects showed smaller gray matter volume in the amygdala, insula, and anterior medial prefrontal cortex. Compared to patients with schizophrenia, patients with autism spectrum disorder displayed smaller gray matter volume in the left insula. Disorder specific positive correlations were found between mentalizing ability and left amygdala volume in autism spectrum disorder, and hallucinatory behavior and insula volume in schizophrenia. Results suggest the involvement of social brain areas in both disorders. Further studies are needed to replicate these findings and to quantify the amount of distinct and overlapping neural correlates in autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt/Main, Frankfurt/Main,Germany.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Radeloff
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt/Main, Frankfurt/Main,Germany.
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ciaramidaro
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt/Main, Frankfurt/Main,Germany.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Siniatchkin
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt/Main, Frankfurt/Main,Germany.
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hainz
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt/Main, Frankfurt/Main,Germany.
authors.forename: Sabine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schlitt
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universität Frankfurt/Main, Frankfurt/Main, Germany; Psychiatric University Clinics, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Bernhard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Weber
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt/Main, Frankfurt/Main,Germany.
authors.forename: Fritz
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Poustka
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt/Main, Frankfurt/Main,Germany; Department of Women's and Children's Health, Center of Neurodevelopmental Disorders at Karolinska Institutet (KIND), Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Sven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bölte
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universität Frankfurt/Main, Frankfurt/Main, Germany; Division of Mind and Brain Research, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Henrik
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Walter
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt/Main, Frankfurt/Main,Germany.
authors.forename: Christine Margarete
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Freitag
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000679:Amygdala / Q000473:pathology; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D002659:Child Development Disorders, Pervasive / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000473:pathology; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000473:pathology*; D055815:Young Adult