Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 23, 1990 TAG: 9003232838
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A/5 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BOSTON LENGTH: Medium
Several earlier studies have described what appear to be differences in the brains of schizophrenics. But because the abnormalities were so slight, experts were uncertain whether they truly were unique to people with the mental disorder.
The latest work tried to settle this question by comparing the brains of 15 sets of identical twins. In each pair, one twin had schizophrenia, the other did not.
"The chief finding of this study was that evidence of anatomical changes in the brain was present in almost every twin with schizophrenia," the researchers wrote.
The differences were subtle. But in general, the hollow spaces in the brain known as the cerebral ventricles were larger in the schizophrenics' heads, and the hippocampus, a part of the brain vital to memory, was smaller.
Just how these differences are related to schizophrenia is unclear. Indeed, scientists are unsure whether they might cause the disease - or somehow result from it.
The latest findings were based on magnetic scans that take cross-sectional pictures on the head. The work, conducted by Dr. Richard L. Suddath and others from the National Institute of Mental Health in Washington, was published in today's New England Journal of Medicine.
Schizophrenia runs in families. But the new research suggests that the cause may not be entirely genetic, because the twins are genetically identical.
In an accompanying editorial, Dr. M. Marsel Mesulam of Beth Israel Hospital in Boston said the latest work provides "nearly definitive evidence" of structural differences in schizophrenics' brains.
People with schizophrenia have disturbances in thinking, feelings and behavior. Often they make disconnected remarks, believe they hear voices and complain that others are stealing their thoughts.
by CNB