Sex-dependent effects of schizophrenia: an MRI study of gyral folding, and cortical and white matter volume

Alterations, sometimes sex-dependent, in volumes and gyral structure of areas of cerebral cortex have been reported in schizophrenia. Such changes imply an anomaly of connectivity. The gyrification, percentage of tissue volume attributed to white matter, cortical volume and white matter volume were measured from magnetic resonance images in males and females with (n=61) and without (n=42) schizophrenia. The frontal, temporal and an amalgam of occipital and parietal lobes were examined in both hemispheres. There was no effect of schizophrenia on the gyrification of the brain. For the volume of occipito–parietal white matter, females with schizophrenia had bilaterally lower volumes, while males with schizophrenia had greater volumes than controls. It is concluded that the changes in connectivity underlying the pathogenesis of schizophrenia are sex-specific and expressed in occipito–parietal white matter.