[A study of cerebral cortex in untreated first-episode schizophrenics].

OBJECTIVE

To detect the changes of cortical thickness and cortical surface area in untreated patients of first-episode schizophrenia.

METHODS

Fifty-seven untreated patients of first-episode schizophrenia (SCZ) hospitalized from September 2009 to March 2012 at Department of Psychiatry, Third Affiliated Hospital, SUN Yat-sen University and 57 healthy controls (HC) recruited by advertising during the same period underwent a high resolution three-dimensional magnetic resonance imaging of brain structures. And cortical-surface based technique was used to analyze the cortical thickness and cortical surface area. The general linear model (GLM) was employed to detect the differences of cortical thickness and cortical surface area between two groups.

RESULTS

were corrected for multiple comparisons by the Monte Carlo simulation method.

RESULTS

As compared with HC, the cortical thickness of left superior frontal, left caudal middle cingulate, left lateral occipital, right superior frontal, right superior temporal and right fusiform regions in SCZ decreased by 6.0%, 7.2%, 8.2%, 5.2%, 7.1% and 6.0% respectively. And the largest reductions occurred in left lateral occipital regions. Cortical surface area of each brain regions in SCZ had no significant difference with HC.

CONCLUSION

Cortical thickness reductions exist in multiple brain regions in schizophrenia. It may be the neuropathological mechanisms of schizophrenia.