Changes in the brains of individuals at high risk for developing schizophrenia may help scientists predict those who will go on to develop the disease.
Researchers from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland hypothesized that a reduction of the brain's gray matter precedes the onset of schizophrenia. To test this theory, the scientists used structural magnetic resonance imaging to scan the brains of 65 individuals with a family history of the disorder (Job DE et al. BMC Med. 2006;4:29).
The participants were scanned twice over an average span of 1.5 years to determine if changes in gray matter density were associated with development of schizophrenia. Eight of the 65 patients went on to develop schizophrenia on average 2.3 years after their first scan. Sixty percent of the individuals who experienced a reduction of gray matter in the inferior temporal gyrus over a certain threshold went on . . . [Full Text of this Article]
