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The British Journal of Psychiatry (2002) 180: 331-338
© 2002 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

Amygdala volume in schizophrenia: post-mortem study and review of magnetic resonance imaging findings

STEVEN A. CHANCE, DPhil

MARGARET M. ESIRI, FRCPath and TIMOTHY J. CROW, FRCPsych

University of Oxford, UK

Correspondence: Steven A. Chance, Schizophrenia Research Group, Radcliffe Infirmary, Woodstock Road, Oxford OX2 6HE, UK. Tel: 01865228424; fax: 01865 228496; e-mail: steven.chance{at}clneuro.ox.ac.uk

Declaration of interest This work was supported by the Medical Research Council and the SANE Trust.

Background Claims that schizophrenia is a disease of the limbic system have been strengthened by meta-analyses of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies finding reduced hippocampus and amygdala volumes. Some post-mortem studies do not find these abnormalities.

Aims To assess the volume of the amygdala in a series of brains post-mortem.

Method Amygdala volume was estimated using point-counting in both hemispheres of the brains of 10 male and 8 female patients with schizophrenia, and a comparison group of 9 males and 9 females.

Results No significant reduction of amygdala volume was found.

Conclusions Significant volume reduction of the amygdala is not a consistent feature of schizophrenia; findings from early MRI studies using coarse delineation methods may introduce bias to subsequent meta-analyses.


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