Gray matter volumedifferences in deficit and nondeficit schizophrenia:a voxel-based morphometric study

Abstract

：Objective To examine thedifferences in the structure of brain white matter among deficit schizophrenia, nondeficitschizophrenia and healthy controls by using voxel-based morphometry (VBM). Methods Tendeficit schizophrenic patients, eleven nondeficit patients and fifteen healthy comparisonsubjects participated in the study. All the subjects were scanned by GE Twin Speed 1.5TMRI system. Whole brain, voxel-wise analyses of regional white matter volume wereconducted by the VBM toolbox on the Matlab7.6 and SPM5. t -test was then used for thecomparison between groups. Results Compared to the healthy controls, nondeficitschizophrenic patients significantly decreased the density of gray matter in the frontal,parietal, temporal, occipital lobe and basal ganglia , while the deficit patients showedthe characteristically broad and significant decreasion in the frontal lobe, includingleft medial frontal gyrus, bilateral inferior frontal gyrus, left middle frontal gyrus,and left orbital gyrus (Cluster ≥ 30 mm3, P<0.01). Moreover,deficit patients showed the decreasion in the temporal cortex and the limbic lobe (rightinsula). Relative to the nondeficit schizophrenic patients, deficit patients hadsignificant regional gray matter decreases in the left medial frontal gyrus, bilateralinferior frontal gyrus, right precentral gyrus, and right superior temporal gyrus (Cluster≥ 30 mm3, P<0.01).Conclusion Structural heterogeneity in schizophrenia may relate to specific patterns ofgray matter density reductions in deficit and nondeficit patient. However the two subtypeof schizophremia patients share a common prefrontal-temperal pattern of structural brainalterations. Key words: Deficit schizophrenia; Magnetic resonanceimaging; Voxel-based morphometry; Cray matter