Anatomical Abnormalities in the Brains of Monozygotic Twins Discordant for Schizophrenia

Abstract

Recent neuroradiologic and neuropathological studies indicate that at least some patients with schizophrenia have slightly enlarged cerebral ventricles and subtle anatomical abnormalities in the region of the anterior hippocampus. Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), we studied 15 sets of monozygotic twins who were discordant for schizophrenia (age range, 25 to 44 years; 8 male and 7 female pairs). For each pair of twins, T₁-weighted contiguous coronal sections (5 mm thick) were compared blindly, and quantitative measurements of brain structures were made with a computerized image-analysis system.