Association of cortical thickness and neurological soft signs in patients with chronic schizophrenia and healthy controls.
BACKGROUND
Neurological soft signs (NSS), i.e. subtle neurological abnormalities, have been frequently found in schizophrenia. Neuroimaging studies in schizophrenia have shown abnormal cortical thickness changes across the cortical mantle. However, few studies have examined relationships between NSS and cortical thickness abnormalities in schizophrenia.


METHODS
A sample of 18 patients with chronic schizophrenia and 20 age-matched healthy controls were included. Cortical thickness was assessed on high-resolution 3-tesla magnetic resonance imaging by using FreeSurfer software and NSS were rated on the Heidelberg Scale.


RESULTS
Significant negative correlations between NSS and cortical thickness were found in the prefrontal, inferior temporal, superior parietal, postcentral, and supramarginal cortices in the schizophrenia patients. In the controls, however, this negative correlation was found in the anterior cingulate, pericalcarine and superior/middle temporal regions.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results not only confirmed the association between NSS and cortical thickness in chronic schizophrenia but also indicated that patients and controls have different anatomical substrates of NSS.
College of Education, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai, China.
Li
L
Kong
Christina J
CJ
Herold
Marc M
MM
Lässer
Lena A
LA
Schmid
Dusan
D
Hirjak
Philipp A
PA
Thomann
Marco
M
Essig
Johannes
J
Schröder
D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000473:pathology*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000473:pathology*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology