Automated MRI parcellation study of regional volume and thickness of prefrontal cortex (PFC) in antipsychotic-naïve schizophrenia

Objective: Prefrontal cortical dysfunction is considered to be critical in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. However, structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies on the PFC have yielded inconsistent results because of various confounding factors. Method: In this study we examined the volume and thickness abnormalities of the PFC in antipsychotic‐naïve schizophrenia patients (n = 51) in comparison with age‐, sex‐, and handedness‐matched (as a group) healthy comparison subjects (n = 47) using a newly described automated MRI parcellation analysis. Results: Schizophrenia patients showed i) significant volume deficits in bilateral lateral orbitofrontal and left medial orbitofrontal cortices as well as bilateral pars triangularis; and ii) significant thickness deficit in bilateral medial orbitofrontal cortices. Negative syndrome score had a significant negative correlation with the thickness of the left medial orbitofrontal cortex. Conclusion: The study findings emphasize that prefrontal deficit in schizophrenia is differential and involves primarily the regions essential for ‘social cognition’.