P. Falkai et al., DISTURBED PLANUM TEMPORALE ASYMMETRY IN SCHIZOPHRENIA - A QUANTITATIVE POSTMORTEM STUDY, Schizophrenia research, 14(2), 1995, pp. 161-176
The planum temporale of the temporal cortex was investigated post-mort
em in 24 schizophrenic patients and 24 age- and sex-matched control su
bjects. Schizophrenic patients demonstrated a 20% volume reduction of
the left planum temporale (p=0.032), whereas on the right side, there
was a trend for increase in male schizophrenics (+22%, p=0.17), while
in female patients the volume was moderately decreased (-6%, p=0.74).
The mean anterior-posterior diameter of the planum temporale was signi
ficantly reduced in the left hemisphere (-20%, p=0.008), but unchanged
on the right side. The asymmetry coefficients (Galaburda et al. (1987
) Neuropsychologia 25, 853-868) for the planum temporale cortex volume
(p=0.02) and anterior-posterior diameter (p=0.002) but not for mean a
rea (p=0.61) were significantly different between schizophrenics and c
ontrol subjects. These data support the idea of disturbed cerebral lat
erality in schizophrenia. The implications of methodology and patient
samples are discussed.