background Cortical thinning has been reported in schizophrenia and seems to be a sensitive measure to identify small cortical lesions affecting distributed neurocircuits. Evidence for decreased cortical thickness as a structural endophenotype is scarce.
method mri scans were acquired from patients with psychosis, their non-psychotic siblings and controls. BrainVoyager software was used to measure cortical thickness in a preliminary sample of ten patients, ten siblings and ten controls. Whole brain group analyses were performed after cortex-based alignment of segmented cortices.
results Analyses revealed decreases in cortical thickness in the frontal and occipital lobe but primarily in the inferior temporal and inferior parietal lobe in patients compared to controls. In the relative-control comparison, cortical thinning was found in the posterior temporal lobe and in regions of the frontal lobe. Compared to patients, relatives had less extensive cortical thinning in the frontal, occipital, inferior parietal and the temporal lobe. The results did not reach the level of statistical significance after multiple comparison correction, which is due to lack of power in this preliminary sample.
conclusion Alterations in cortical thickness may be associated with the genetic liability for schizophrenia. More robust results on a study sample three times larger will be presented.