Corpus callosum deficits in antipsychotic-naïve schizophrenia: Evidence for neurodevelopmental pathogenesis

Venkatasubramanian, Ganesan; Jayakumar, Peruvumba N.; Reddy, Varun Venkatesh; Reddy, Umesh Srinivasa; Gangadhar, Bangalore. N.; Keshavan, Matcheri S.

doi:10.1016/j.pscychresns.2010.01.004

« Previous Next »Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging
Volume 182, Issue 2 , Pages 141-145, 30 May 2010

Corpus callosum deficits in antipsychotic-naïve schizophrenia: Evidence for neurodevelopmental pathogenesis

Ganesan Venkatasubramanian
- Department of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore-560029, India
- Corresponding author. The Schizophrenia Clinic, Department of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health & Neurosciences, Bangalore-560029, Karnataka, India. Tel.: +91 80 26995256; fax: +91 80 26564830.
Peruvumba N. Jayakumar
- Department of Neuroimaging and Interventional Radiology, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore-560029, India
Varun Venkatesh Reddy
- Department of Neuroimaging and Interventional Radiology, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore-560029, India
Umesh Srinivasa Reddy
- Department of Neuroimaging and Interventional Radiology, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore-560029, India
Bangalore. N. Gangadhar
- Department of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore-560029, India
Matcheri S. Keshavan
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI 48201, USA

Received 2 October 2009; received in revised form 6 December 2009; accepted 8 January 2010.

Abstract

The corpus callosum (CC), the largest inter-hemispheric tract connecting the association cortices, has been shown to be affected in disorders with aberrant neurodevelopment. Previous studies that investigated CC abnormalities in schizophrenia have reported mixed findings potentially due to various confounding factors. In this study, we used magnetic resonance imaging to examine a large sample of antipsychotic-naïve schizophrenia patients (n=66) in comparison with age-, sex-, and handedness-matched (as a group) healthy comparison subjects (n=46). Mid-sagittal areas of CC sub-regions – namely, the genu, body, isthmus and splenium – were measured based on Witelson's method with good inter- and intra-rater reliability. The genu and body of the CC were significantly smaller in schizophrenia patients in comparison to healthy subjects after controlling for the potential confounding effects of age, sex and intracranial area. In male schizophrenia patients, there was a significant positive correlation between the age at onset of psychosis and the area of the genu. Together, these findings suggest neurodevelopmentally mediated hypoconnectivity in schizophrenia.