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The British Journal of Psychiatry (2001) 178: 337-343
© 2001 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

Schizophrenia and the frontal lobes

Post-mortem stereological study of tissue volume

J. ROBIN HIGHLEY, DPhil, MARY A. WALKER, MARGARET M. ESIRI, FRCPath and BRENDAN McDONALD, MRCPath

Schizophrenia Research Group, Department of Clinical Neurology (Neuropathology), Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford

PAUL J. HARRISON, DM

University Department of Psychiatry, Neurosciences Building, Warneford Hospital, Oxford

TIMOTHY J. CROW, FRCPsych

POWIC, University Department of Psychiatry, Warneford Hospital, Oxford, UK

Correspondence: Timothy J.Crow, POWIC, University Department of Psychiatry, Warneford Hospital, Oxford OX3 7JX, UK. Tel: +44 1865 223909; Fax: +44 1865 244990; e-mail: tim.crow{at}psychiatry.oxford.ac.uk

Declaration of interest This work was supported by The Medical Research Council and The Wellcome Trust.

Background It has been suggested that there is frontal lobe involvement in schizophrenia, and that it may be lateralised and gender-specific.

Aims To clarify the structure of the frontal lobes in schizophrenia in a post-mortem series.

Method The volume of white matter and cortical components of the frontal lobes was measured in brains of controls and patients with schizophrenia using planimetry and the Cavalieri principle. The components measured were: superior frontal gyrus, middle frontal gyrus, a composite of inferior frontal gyrus and orbito-frontal cortex, as well as total frontal lobe cortex and white matter. In addition, the anterior cingulate gyrus was measured.

Results No diagnosis, gender, diagnosis x side, diagnosis x gender or diagnosis x gender x side interactions were observed in the volume of any of the components, the grey matter as a whole or the white matter. No evidence for volumetric inter-group differences was found for the anterior cingulate gyrus.

Conclusions Such structural abnormalities as are present in the frontal lobes are more subtle than straightforward alterations in tissue volume; they may include changes in shape and the pattern of gyral folding.




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