Post-mortem volume measurements of limbic system and basal ganglia structures in chronic schizophrenics. Initial results from a new brain collection.

Volumes of the hippocampal formation, external and internal pallidum, caudate, putamen, and nucleus accumbens were measured in both hemispheres of recently collected post-mortem brains of 18 chronically ill schizophrenics and 21 control subjects. In the schizophrenic group, the hippocampal formation and the internal pallidum were significantly smaller in the right and left hemisphere, whereas external pallidum, putamen, caudate and accumbens were not significantly changed. Volumes of the hippocampus and of all evaluated parts of the basal ganglia were in the male schizophrenics more reduced than in the female patients. The right and left hemispheres were equally affected in both sexes. Since the mean brain weight was in patients and controls nearly identical, the volume differences can not be explained by a general brain atrophy or hypoplasia but rather indicate a more focal lack of brain tissue, by which some clinical features of the disease might be explained.