G Proteins in the Medial Temporal Lobe in Schizophrenia

Numerous controlled investigations by computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging of living patients suffering from schizophrenia have found quantitative evidence of brain pathology in the form of enlarged third and lateral ventricles and increased cortical markings suggestive of reduced gyral mass or atrophy (Johnstone et al., 1976; Shelton and Weinberger, 1986; Suddath et al., 1989). In addition, controlled studies of postmortem brain tissue have found nonspecific, but objective evidence of abnormal brain structure in the periventricular limbic and diencephalic areas in schizophrenia (Lesch and Bogerts, 1984; Bogerts et al., 1985; Brown et al., 1986; Jakob and Beckmann, 1986; Roberts, 1990). Crow et al. (1989) showed asymmetrical enlargement of the temporal horn of the lateral cerebral ventricle in schizophrenia. These structural abnormalities occur in the absence of degenerative changes in the brain. It has been proposed on the basis of these studies that some anomaly of growth occurs during brain development, but little neurochemical evidence has yet been found that correlates with these structural findings.