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Original articles| Volume 34, ISSUE 12, P853-863, December 15, 1993

Sylvian fissure asymmetries in monozygotic twins: A test of laterality in schizophrenia

  • Alycia J. Bartley
    Affiliations
    Clinical Brain Disorders Branch, Intramural Research Program, National Institute of Mental Health, Neuroscience Center at St. Elizabeths, Washington, DC USA
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  • Douglas W. Jones
    Affiliations
    Clinical Brain Disorders Branch, Intramural Research Program, National Institute of Mental Health, Neuroscience Center at St. Elizabeths, Washington, DC USA
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  • E. Fuller Torrey
    Affiliations
    Clinical Brain Disorders Branch, Intramural Research Program, National Institute of Mental Health, Neuroscience Center at St. Elizabeths, Washington, DC USA
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  • Jeffrey R. Zigun
    Affiliations
    Clinical Brain Disorders Branch, Intramural Research Program, National Institute of Mental Health, Neuroscience Center at St. Elizabeths, Washington, DC USA
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  • Daniel R. Weinberger
    Correspondence
    Address reprint requests to Daniel R. Weinberger, MD, Clinical Brain Disorders Branch, Neuroscience Center at St. Elizabeths, 2700 Martin Luther King Blvd., S.E., Washington, DC 20032 USA
    Affiliations
    Clinical Brain Disorders Branch, Intramural Research Program, National Institute of Mental Health, Neuroscience Center at St. Elizabeths, Washington, DC USA
    Search for articles by this author
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/0006-3223(93)90053-G
Sylvian fissure asymmetries in monozygotic twins: A test of laterality in schizophrenia
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      Abstract

      To address prior reports that schizophrenia is associated with loss of normal brain asymmetry and that it might be linked to a defect of a gene controlling cerebral laterization, we measured on three-dimensional cortical renderings from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans the lengths and angles of the sylvian fissures in 10 normal monozygotic (MZ) twin pairs (n = 10 pairs) and in 10 MZ pairs discordant for schizophrenia (n = 10 pairs). We confirmed in both sets of twins the expected normal asymmetries of length and angle of the sylvian fissure. We also confirmed that the length asymmetry occurs solely in the region of the planum temporale. In the discordant twins, affected and unaffected twins did not differ in asymmetry measures, thus failing to support an association between illness per se and diminished asymmetry. Moreover, the discordant twins as a group did not differ from the normal twins as a group, thus failing to confirm the hypothesis of a genetic association with abnormal asymmetry. The implications of variations in methodology and patient samples are discussed.

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      Article info

      Publication history

      Received in revised form: October 7, 1993
      Received: April 5, 1993

      Identification

      DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/0006-3223(93)90053-G

      Copyright

      © 1993 Published by Elsevier Inc.

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