Petty R G, Barta P E, Pearlson G D, McGilchrist I K, Lewis R W, Tien A Y, Pulver A, Vaughn D D, Casanova M F, Powers R E
Department of Psychiatry, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287-7362, USA.
Am J Psychiatry. 1995 May;152(5):715-21. doi: 10.1176/ajp.152.5.715.
The planum temporale is intimately involved in the generation and understanding of language and has been suggested to be a key area affected in schizophrenia. To explore temporal lobe abnormalities in schizophrenia, the authors measured the planum temporale, a normally asymmetric area lying on the superior part of the temporal lobe, in schizophrenic patients.
High-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans were obtained for 14 right-handed schizophrenic patients and 14 healthy comparison subjects individually matched for age, sex, handedness, race, and parental socioeconomic status. The surface area of the planum temporale was measured by using MRI reconstruction techniques.
There was striking reversal of the normal asymmetry (left larger than right) in planum temporale surface area in 13 of the schizophrenic patients but in only two of the comparison subjects. However, Heschl's gyrus (primary sensory cortex), which served as an anatomically contiguous nonheteromodal cortical comparison region, showed no difference between the left and right sides in either group. Severity of thought disorder in the patients was related to asymmetry.
This is a clear demonstration of a reversal of expected symmetry in the brains of right-handed schizophrenic patients, which involves a region of key importance in normal human behavior. The nature of the abnormality strongly suggests that schizophrenia is a neurodevelopmental disorder.
颞平面与语言的产生和理解密切相关，且被认为是精神分裂症中受影响的关键区域。为了探究精神分裂症患者的颞叶异常情况，作者对精神分裂症患者的颞平面进行了测量，颞平面是位于颞叶上部的一个正常情况下不对称的区域。
对14名右利手精神分裂症患者和14名年龄、性别、利手、种族及父母社会经济地位相匹配的健康对照者分别进行了高分辨率磁共振成像（MRI）扫描。通过使用MRI重建技术测量颞平面的表面积。
13名精神分裂症患者的颞平面表面积出现了正常不对称性（左侧大于右侧）的显著反转，而在对照者中只有2人出现这种情况。然而，作为解剖学上相邻的非异模态皮质对照区域的颞横回（初级感觉皮质），在两组中左右两侧均无差异。患者的思维障碍严重程度与不对称性有关。
这清楚地证明了右利手精神分裂症患者大脑中预期对称性的反转，这涉及到在正常人类行为中至关重要的一个区域。这种异常的性质强烈表明精神分裂症是一种神经发育障碍。
