Asymmetry loss is local rather than global in adolescent onset schizophrenia

Clark, Gina M.; Crow, Timothy J.; Barrick, Thomas R.; Collinson, Simon L.; James, Anthony C.; Roberts, Neil; Mackay, Clare E.

doi:10.1016/j.schres.2009.12.032

« Previous Next »Schizophrenia Research
Volume 120, Issue 1 , Pages 84-86, July 2010

Asymmetry loss is local rather than global in adolescent onset schizophrenia

Gina M. Clark
- College of Medicine, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, Oxford University, Oxford, UK
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Oxford University, OX1 3UD, UK
Timothy J. Crow
- Department of Psychiatry, Oxford University, Oxford, UK
- Corresponding author. SANE Prince of Wales International Centre, Department of Psychiatry, Warneford Hospital, Oxford OX3 7JX, UK. Tel.: +44 1865 455917; fax: +44 1865 455922.
Thomas R. Barrick
- MARIAC, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, L69 3GE, UK
Simon L. Collinson
- Department of Psychiatry, Oxford University, Oxford, UK
- National University of Singapore, Singapore
Anthony C. James
- Department of Psychiatry, Oxford University, Oxford, UK
Neil Roberts
- MARIAC, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, L69 3GE, UK
Clare E. Mackay
- Department of Psychiatry, Oxford University, Oxford, UK

Received 1 July 2009; received in revised form 22 September 2009; accepted 28 December 2009. published online 10 May 2010.

Abstract

Meta-analyses in adult-onset schizophrenia report loss of normal planum temporale (PT) asymmetry, posited to relate to language and symptoms, but are inconclusive regarding global “cerebral torque”. PT asymmetry has been reported unchanged in childhood onset schizophrenia. Here the discrepancy is examined in adolescence. Unbiased PT asymmetry and torque measures were obtained on 35 adolescents with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder and 31 adolescent controls. Patients had less PT asymmetry than controls, but torque was unchanged. Taken with previous reports, these results in adolescent onset psychosis suggest that local disturbance of cerebral asymmetry increases with patient age; it could indicate that differential rate of change at the cortical surface in the two hemispheres is the mechanism of symptom generation.

Keywords: Planum temporale, Asymmetry, Adolescence, Schizophrenia, Torque