Background: While the evidence for hippocampal structural abnormalities in schizophrenia is now well accepted, whether there is differentially greater volume loss within specific subregions of the hippocampus remains a matter of some debate. Here we present volume estimates of anterior and posterior hippocampal volumes using a novel morphometric protocol.
Methods: We studied 25 male patients with schizophrenia and 25 age-matched male control subjects. Hippocampal volumes were estimated using a three-dimensional morphometric protocol for the analysis of high-resolution structural magnetic resonance images (MRI). Anterior hippocampal volumes were differentiated from posterior hippocampal volumes by the presence of the uncus in coronal slices.
Results: While the patients with schizophrenia had significantly smaller overall hippocampal volumes relative to the control group, there was no evidence for a topographically specific pattern of volume loss along the anterior-posterior hippocampal axis.
Conclusions: These results confirm the presence of overall hippocampal volume decreases in patients with schizophrenia, but do not confirm a topographically specific localization of this effect. It appears that the hippocampal volume deficit in schizophrenia is diffuse, a finding that has important consequences for understanding the underlying pathophysiologic mechanisms in schizophrenia.