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Reduced planum temporale volume and delusional behaviour in patients with schizophrenia

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Abstract

The structural abnormality of planum temporale (PT), a part of the superior temporal heteromodal association cortex involved in auditory and language processing, has been implicated in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. However, its relationship to clinical manifestations remains unclear. Magnetic resonance images were obtained from 17 right-handed Japanese men with schizophrenia and from 22 age-, handedness-, and parental socioeconomic-status-matched healthy Japanese men in order to manually evaluate grey matter volumes of Heschl’s gyrus (HG) and PT. Psychiatric symptoms were assessed using positive and negative syndrome scale among the patients. Compared with healthy participants, patients with schizophrenia were associated with a statistically significant PT grey matter volume reduction without left or right lateralization, whereas HG volume was preserved. Smaller right PT volume was significantly correlated with more severe delusional behaviour in the patients. Previous investigations have focused on smaller-than-normal left PT in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia; however, the present results suggest a possible role of the right PT, which is involved in social cognition such as understanding the intentions of others, in the production of psychotic experiences in patients with schizophrenia.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by grants-in-aid for scientific research (No. 18019009 and 18390319 to KK, No. 17-5234 to MAR) from the JSPS and the MEXT, and by grants-in-aid (H17-Kokoro-Ippan 009, H18-Shi 7, H17-Koh 2 to KK) from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, Japan.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Rehabilitation, Graduate school of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, 113-8655, Japan

    Syudo Yamasaki & Shun-ichi Furukawa

  2. Department of Neuropsychiatry, Graduate school of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, 113-8655, Japan

    Hidenori Yamasue, Mark A. Rogers, Nobumasa Kato & Kiyoto Kasai

  3. Department of Radiology, Graduate school of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, 113-8655, Japan

    Osamu Abe, Haruyasu Yamada & Shigeki Aoki

  4. Department of Neuropsychiatry, Saitama Medical School, Saitama, 350-0495, Japan

    Akira Iwanami

  5. Department of Psychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, Yokohama City University, Yokohama, Kanagawa, 236-0004, Japan

    Yoshio Hirayasu

  6. Clinical Neuroscience Division, Department of Psychiatry, Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System, Brockton Division, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02301, USA

    Motoaki Nakamura

  7. Department of Life Sciences, Graduate school of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, 153-8902, Japan

    Yoshihiko Tanno

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  1. Syudo Yamasaki
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Correspondence to Syudo Yamasaki.

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Yamasaki, S., Yamasue, H., Abe, O. et al. Reduced planum temporale volume and delusional behaviour in patients with schizophrenia. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosc 257, 318–324 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-007-0723-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-007-0723-5

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