Abstract
Background
The human hippocampus becomes visible during the first trimester and folds to form
the hippocampal fissure (HF) in the second trimester. The walls of this fissure fuse
by 30 weeks, although small residual cavities can occur if development is disrupted.
The primary purpose of this study was to determine if hippocampal fissures are evident
in schizophrenia. A second goal was to assess the association between HF size and
premorbid and clinical features of the illness.
Methods
Magnetic resonance imaging scans were obtained on 33 patients with first-episode schizophrenia
and 19 healthy volunteers. Hippocampal fissures were measured using semi-automated
procedures, and hippocampi were manually traced. Birth history and premorbid functioning
were assessed using maternal report.
Results
Patients had a significantly larger mean HF volume and a nonsignificantly smaller
hippocampal volume. Hippocampal fissure size was significantly associated with poor
educational achievement and with anxiety–depression symptoms during the onset of illness.
Smaller hippocampal size was associated with poor premorbid adjustment.
Conclusions
Larger HF size and an association between low educational achievement and enlarged
HFs suggest abnormal neurodevelopment in schizophrenia. The association between HF
size and anxiety–depression symptoms suggests that hippocampal abnormalities underlying
HF dilatation may be a predisposing factor for increased stress sensitivity.
Keywords
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to Biological PsychiatryAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- Confirmation of a two factor model of premorbid adjustment in males with schizophrenia.Schizophr Bull. 2001; 27: 39-46
- Smaller neuron size in schizophrenia in hippocampal subfields that mediate cortical-hippocampal interactions.Am J Psychiatry. 1995; 152: 738-748
- Excitatory amino acids contribute to the pathogenesis of perinatal hypoxic-ischemic brain injury.Brain Pathol. 1992; 2: 235-243
- Late-onset temporal lobe epilepsy and dilation of the hippocampal sulcus by an enlarged Virchow-Robin space.Neurology. 1998; 50: 784-787
- The cascade of increasingly deviant development that culminates in the onset of schizophrenia.Neurosci News. 2001; 4: 5-18
- Magnetic resonance imaging-based measurement of hippocampal volume in posttraumatic stress disorder related to childhood physical and sexual abuse—a preliminary report.Biol Psychiatry. 1997; 41: 23-32
- MRI of the temporal lobe.Magn Reson Imaging. 1991; 9: 501-507
- Structural brain imaging in schizophrenia.Psychiatr Clin N Am. 1998; 21: 77-91
- Premorbid social functioning in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.Am J Psychiatry. 1997; 154: 1544-1550
- Measurement of premorbid adjustment in chronic schizophrenia.Schizophr Bull. 1982; 8: 470-484
- Soft neurological signs in schizophrenic patients and their nonpsychotic siblings.J Nerv Ment Dis. 2000; 188: 84-89
- Hippocampal morphometry in schizophrenia by high dimensional brain mapping.Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1998; 95: 11406-11411
- Obstetric complications and the risk of schizophrenia—a longitudinal study of a national birth cohort.Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1999; 56: 234-240
- The human hippocampus: An atlas of applied anatomy. Springer-Verlag, New York1988
- Minor physical anomalies in schizophrenia patients, bipolar patients, and their siblings.Schizophr Bull. 1994; 20: 433-440
- Magnetic resonance imaging study of hippocampal volume in chronic, combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder.Biol Psychiatry. 1996; 40: 1091-1099
- Schizophrenia as a long-term outcome of pregnancy, delivery, and perinatal complications.Am J Psychiatry. 1998; 155: 355-364
- Child developmental risk factors for adult schizophrenia in the British 1946 birth cohort.Lancet. 1994; 344: 1398-1402
- The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) for schizophrenia.Schizophr Bull. 1987; 13: 261-276
- Embryology of the human fetal hippocampus.Am J Neuroradiol. 1997; 18: 525-532
- Symptoms in neuroleptic-naive, first-episode schizophrenia.Biol Psychiatry. 1996; 39: 296-298
- MRI study of cavum septum pellucidi in schizophrenia, affective disorder, and schzotypal personality disorder.Am J Psychiatry. 1998; 155: 509-515
- The anthropometric assessment of dysmorphic features in schizophrenia as an index of developmental origins.Psychol Med. 1997; 27: 1155-1164
- Brain structure, genetic liability, and psychotic symptoms in subjects at high risk of developing schizophrenia.Biol Psychiatry. 2001; 49: 811-823
- The secondary schizophrenias.in: Hirsch S.R. Weinberger D.R. Schizophrenia. Blackwell Science, Oxford1995: 324-339
- Selective vulnerability of dentate hilar neurons following traumatic brain injury.J Neurosci. 1992; 12: 4846-4853
- MRI anatomy of schizophrenia.Biol Psychiatry. 1999; 45: 1099-1119
- Stress, sex, hippocampal plasticity.Clin Neurosci Res. 2001; 1: 19-34
- The McNeil-Sjöström OC Scale. Department of Psychiatry, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden1994
- Hippocampal volume reduction in schizophrenia as assessed by magnetic resonance imaging.Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1998; 55: 433-440
- School teacher ratings predictive of psychiatric outcome 25 years later.Br J Psychiatry. 1998; 172: 7-13
- NIH Image. National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD1997
- Glucocorticoids and hippocampal atrophy in neuropsychiatric disorders.Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2000; 57: 925-935
- Reduced hippocampal volume and n-acetyl aspartate in posttraumatic stress disorder.Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1997; 821: 516-520
- Low birthweight in schizophrenia.Schizophr Res. 2001; 47: 177-184
- Hippocampal volume in women victimized by childhood sexual abuse.Psychol Med. 1997; 27: 951-959
- Disturbed gyrification of the prefrontal region in male schizophrenic patients.Am J Psychiatry. 2000; 157: 34-39
- Neurodevelopmental and neuroprogressive processes in schizophrenia.Psychiatr Clin N Am. 1998; 21: 123-149
- Schizophrenia.Psychol Rev. 1997; 104: 667-685
- Motor dysfunction and risk for schizophrenia.Dev Psychopathol. 1999; 11: 509-523
- Childhood head trauma and psychosis.Psychiatry Res. 1987; 21: 303-306
- A longitudinal study of hippocampal volume in first episode psychosis and chronic schizophrenia.Schizophr Res. 2001; 52: 37-46
- Structural brain abnormalities in male schizophrenics reflect fronto-temporal dissociation.Psychol Med. 1997; 27: 1257-1266
Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
October 21,
2002
Received in revised form:
October 17,
2002
Received:
July 22,
2002
Identification
Copyright
© 2003 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
