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Postmortem evidence of structural brain changes in schizophrenia. Differences in brain weight, temporal horn area, and parahippocampal gyrus compared with affective disorder
Brown R, Colter N, Corsellis JA, Crow TJ, Frith CD, Jagoe R, Johnstone EC, Marsh L.. Archives of general psychiatry, 1986-01-01
Topic: Brain proteins, microglia and lab models
The brains of 232 patients with a case-note diagnosis of schizophrenia or affective disorder who died in one mental hospital over a period of 22 years were weighed, and were assessed in a coronal section at the level of the interventricular foramina. From this sample were eliminated the brains of patients whose illnesses did not meet the Washington University criteria for a diagnosis of definite schizophrenia or primary affective disorder and those brains that showed significant histopathologic evidence of Alzheimer's-type change or cerebrovascular disease. This left a sample of 41 patients with schizophrenia and 29 patients with affective disorder. With age, sex, and year of birth controlled for, the brains of the patients with schizophrenia were 6% lighter, had lateral ventricles that were larger in the anterior (by 19%), and particularly in the temporal, (by 97%) horn cross section, and had significantly thinner parahippocampal cortices (by 11%). The findings provide postmortem confirmation of reports of ventricular enlargement in radiological studies and suggest that such enlargement is associated with tissue loss in the temporal lobe. The changes in schizophrenia were of a lesser degree than those seen in a sample of brains of patients with Alzheimer's-type dementia and Huntington's chorea.
Key findings
- From this sample were eliminated the brains of patients whose illnesses did not meet the Washington University criteria for a diagnosis of definite schizophrenia or primary affective disorder and those brains that showed significant histopathologic evidence of Alzheimer's-type change or cerebrovascular disease.
- With age, sex, and year of birth controlled for, the brains of the patients with schizophrenia were 6% lighter, had lateral ventricles that were larger in the anterior (by 19%), and particularly in the temporal, (by 97%) horn cross section, and had significantly thinner parahippocampal cortices (by 11%).
- The findings provide postmortem confirmation of reports of ventricular enlargement in radiological studies and suggest that such enlargement is associated with tissue loss in the temporal lobe.
Why it matters
This postmortem study compared brain structure in patients with schizophrenia and affective disorder. It concerns schizophrenia and does not test any treatment, cure or prevention for Alzheimer's disease.
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Study details
- Participants232
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 49/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, effect reported and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on senior author's track record and institution's track record, so those were left out: it earned 46 of the 93 points we could judge it on, which is 49 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Archives of general psychiatry) |
| Journal's citation record | 4 / 4 | Archives of General Psychiatry: journal h-index 543 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | 1 / 5 | Rated “low” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 1 / 5 | 1986 — older than 20 years, still counted |
| Sample size | 2 / 4 | 232 participants |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 3 / 3 | Studied in people (participant count stated) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | 6 / 7 | Cited 684 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 3 / 5 | 16.3 citations a year over 42 year(s) since 1986 |
| Impact for its field and year | 5 / 6 | Cited 39.3× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 1 / 6 | Cited by 2 other studies in this library |
| Still being cited | 1 / 4 | Cited 3 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | — / 4 | Senior author's record not available — left out of this score |
| Institution's track record | — / 3 | No institution listed in OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 0 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 0 institution(s) in 0 countries — scores zero (affiliation lists can be incomplete) |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 2935114) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Points | 46 / 93 | Scored on 18 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 46 of the 93 points we could judge it on is 49 out of 100. |
| Total | 49 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
Read the original
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Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. The record names 8 authors; APA and Vancouver show the first six, BibTeX and the downloads carry all of them. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
APA 7th
Brown, R., Colter, N., Corsellis, J. A., Crow, T. J., Frith, C. D., Jagoe, R., et al. (1986). Postmortem evidence of structural brain changes in schizophrenia. Differences in brain weight, temporal horn area, and parahippocampal gyrus compared with affective disorder. Archives of general psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1001/archpsyc.1986.01800010038005
Vancouver
Brown R, Colter N, Corsellis JA, Crow TJ, Frith CD, Jagoe R, et al. Postmortem evidence of structural brain changes in schizophrenia. Differences in brain weight, temporal horn area, and parahippocampal gyrus compared with affective disorder. Archives of general psychiatry. 1986. doi:10.1001/archpsyc.1986.01800010038005. PMID: 2935114.
BibTeX
@article{brown1986-2935114,
author = {Brown, R. and Colter, N. and Corsellis, J. A. and Crow, T. J. and Frith, C. D. and Jagoe, R. and Johnstone, E. C. and Marsh, L.},
title = {{Postmortem evidence of structural brain changes in schizophrenia. Differences in brain weight, temporal horn area, and parahippocampal gyrus compared with affective disorder}},
journal = {Archives of general psychiatry},
year = {1986},
doi = {10.1001/archpsyc.1986.01800010038005},
pmid = {2935114},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1001/archpsyc.1986.01800010038005}
}
Later studies that cite this one
2 studies in the alzhub library list this one in their references.