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The volumetric differences of the fronto-temporal region in young offspring of schizophrenic patients

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Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine the volumetric differences of the fronto-temporal region in the offspring of schizophrenic patients in comparison to normal. Twenty-six offspring of chronic schizophrenic patients aged between 8 and 15 years and 23 control children were matched with respect to cranial MRI. Chronic schizophrenic patients were reevaluated with SCID-I to confirm their diagnosis. Parents of children in the control group completed SCL-90-R and were evaluated by clinical interview to exclude any psychotic disorder. The diagnoses of psychiatric disorders in all of the children were established by DSM-IV-based clinical interviews with children and parents. They underwent IQ evaluation by WISC-R and evaluated with cranial MRI. Hippocampus, thalamus, amygdala, corpus callosum, frontal, and temporal lobe volumes were measured and compared by using MANCOVA. After covarying whole brain volume, age and gender, statistically significant decrease in the measurements of corpus callosum and hippocampi, and a non-significant trend toward smaller temporal lobes were observed in the high-risk children. The structure of hippocampal formation and corpus callosum were impaired in the children of the schizophrenic patients which suggests a neurodevelopmental abnormality in subjects with genetic high risk for schizophrenia.

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Acknowledgments

This study was presented in part at XVth National Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Congress, April 2005, Istanbul, Turkey, and won the Poster Award of Professor Doctor Fahrettin Kerim Gökay Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Kocaeli University Medical School, Kocaeli, Turkey

    Şahika Gülen Şişmanlar, Yonca Anık, Ayşen Coşkun, Belma Ağaoğlu, Işık Karakaya & Cavit Işık Yavuz

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  1. Şahika Gülen Şişmanlar
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  2. Yonca Anık
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Correspondence to Şahika Gülen Şişmanlar.

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Şişmanlar, Ş.G., Anık, Y., Coşkun, A. et al. The volumetric differences of the fronto-temporal region in young offspring of schizophrenic patients. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 19, 151–157 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-009-0052-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-009-0052-5

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