Reduced anterior cingulate gyrus volume correlates with executive dysfunction in men with first-episode schizophrenia

Although frontal lobe structural and functional abnormalities have been ide ntified in schizophrenia, their relationship remains elusive. Because the f rontal lobes are both structurally and functionally heterogeneous, it is po ssible that some measures of frontal lobe structure may not have accurately identified relevant frontal lobe subregions. The authors hypothesized that the volumes of two dorsal, 'archicortical' subregions (i.e. superior front al gyrus and anterior cingulate gyrus), but not a ventral, 'paleocortical' subregion (i.e. orbital frontal region) would be significantly and selectiv ely correlated with executive and motor dysfunction in patients with schizo phrenia as previously reported for the anterior hippocampal region. Volumes of these frontal lobe subregions were measured from magnetic resonance ima ges based on sulcal anatomy in 20 men and 15 women with first-episode schiz ophrenia. All patients completed a comprehensive neuropsychological test ba ttery while clinically stabilized that encompassed six domains of functioni ng: attention, executive, motor, visuospatial, memory and language. Finding s indicated that reduced anterior cingulate gyrus volume was significantly correlated with worse executive functioning in men; among women, there were no significant correlations. Among men, anterior cingulate gyrus volume wa s significantly more strongly correlated with executive functioning than wi th attention, visuospatial, memory, language and general intellectual funct ioning. Neither executive nor motor functioning was significantly more stro ngly correlated with the dorsal 'archicortical' volumes than with orbital f rontal volume. These findings suggest a link between executive deficits and dysfunction of the dorsal 'archicortical' system and implicate sex differe nces in their relationship in first-episode schizophrenia. (C) 2000 Elsevie r Science B.V. All rights reserved.