Young adults suffering from schizophrenia and other psychoses seem to show a greater loss of gray matter in comparison to healthy teenagers free of any psychoses. Celso Arnago, MD, PhD, and his team at the Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón in Madrid, Spain analyzed the results of magnetic resonance imaging on 61 patients with a variety of psychoses as well as 70 healthy control participants two years after their initial diagnosis. In contrast to the control patients, those suffering from schizophrenia showed both greater loss in gray matter in the frontal lobe and an increase in cerebrospinal fluid in the left frontal lobe. The authors, however, found that patients diagnosed with bipolar disorder had results very similar to the healthy control group. Given the findings, the way forward for developing therapeutic strategies requires more studies on the neurobiological underpinnings on the dramatic changes in the brain — particularly gray matter loss in those diagnosed with schizophrenia and other psychoses.
—Nish V.
Source: Science Daily
