STRUCTURAL ABNORMALITIES Flashcards
1
Q
ENLARGED VENTRICLES
A
- ventricles are cavities that transport cerebrospinal fluid.
- this fluid provides protection buoyancy and chemical stability to the brain and spine
- 4 ventricles in the brain left and right lateral ventricles in frontal occipital and temporal lobes
- third ventricles between left and right thalamus and fourth between pons and medulla oblongata
- schizos have larger ventricles than others
- weinberger et al used cat scans and reported ventricle size was bigger in 58 chronic schizos compared to 56 non 40% of schizos were outside the range of control group and 53% exceeded two standard deviations of the control groups mean score
- andreasen studied mri scans of those with and without and found schizos had ventricles 20-50% larger than controls
2
Q
CORTICAL ATROPHY
A
- this is the loss of nuerons in the cerebral cortex this can happen all over the brain making it look like it has shrunk or can be in limited areas
- in which case the atrophy affects cognitive functions of that area
- the atrophy results in the widening of the grooves covering the cerebral cortex this damage appears on 20-35% of people with chronic schizophrenia
- vita et al used CAT scans to asses 124 schizos and 45 controls found 33% of schizos showed moderate to severe atrophy
- found was not related to age or family history but some realtion in males and if there was ventricle enlargement
3
Q
REVERSED CEREBRAL ASYMMETRY
A
- in most individuals without s the left hemisphere is slightly larger known as cerebral asymmetry
- however in schizos right is notably larger
- relevant when considering language function is in left so damage or deterioration in the left can lead to poverty of language (alogia)
- luchins et al compared CAT scans of 80 right handed schizos to 57 right handed nons
- found an increase in frequency of reversals in both frontal and occipital lobes in schizos but only in those with no other form of atrophy
- those with evidence of atrophy had no higher level of reversals than the control group
4
Q
SEASON OF BIRTH
A
- some factors linked to being neurodevelopmental on schiz such as season of birth
- disanto found in 60,000 people diagnosed with schiz or depression those born in January more likely to be diagnosed as schiz than those born in July to September.
- researchers suggest this is due to mothers being exposed to flu or vitamin d definciency
