Anatomical measurements of the orbitofrontal cortex in child and adolescent patients with bipolar disorder.

Imaging studies indicate smaller orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) volume in mood disorder patients compared with healthy subjects. We sought to determine whether child and adolescent patients with bipolar disorder have smaller OFC volumes than healthy controls. Fourteen children and adolescents meeting DSM-IV criteria for bipolar disorder (six males and eight females with a mean age+/-S.D.=15.5+/-3.2 years) and 20 healthy controls (11 males and nine females with mean age+/-S.D.=16.9+/-3.8 years) were studied. Orbitofrontal cortex volume was measured using magnetic resonance imaging. Male bipolar patients had smaller gray matter volumes in medial (p=0.044), right medial (0.037) and right (p=0.032) lateral OFC subdivisions compared to male controls. In contrast, female patients had larger gray matter volumes in left (p=0.03), lateral (p=0.012), left lateral (p=0.007), and trends for larger volumes in right lateral and left medial OFC subdivisions compared with female controls. Male patients exhibit smaller gray matter volumes, while female patients exhibit larger volumes in some OFC sub-regions. Gender differences in OFC abnormalities may be involved in illness pathophysiology among young bipolar patients.

Reduced superior temporal gyrus volume in young offspring of patients with schizophrenia.

OBJECTIVE: The superior temporal gyrus, a heteromodal auditory and language association cortex, has been found to be smaller in patients with schizophrenia than in normal subjects. However, genetic and/or neurodevelopmental underpinnings of superior temporal gyrus alterations are unknown. Nonpsychotic children with greater genetic risk for schizophrenia exhibit language deficits. The authors studied the superior temporal gyrus in nonpsychotic children at risk for schizophrenia. METHOD: Magnetic resonance imaging was used to measure the right and left superior temporal gyrus of 29 young nonpsychotic subjects who had a parent with schizophrenia and 27 age- and sex-matched comparison subjects who had no family psychiatric history. RESULTS: After controlling for age and intracranial volume, the authors found that the volumes of the right and left superior temporal gyrus of the subjects at risk for schizophrenia were significantly smaller than those of the comparison subjects. Comparison subjects, but not at-risk subjects, showed an inverse correlation between age and left superior temporal gyrus volume. CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide new evidence that superior temporal gyrus abnormalities may result from genetically mediated developmental deviance reflecting greater susceptibility to schizophrenia. Further studies and follow-up will lead to greater understanding of the role of the superior temporal gyrus in the premorbid vulnerability to schizophrenia.