1. Auditory sensory gating, hippocampal volume, and catecholamine metabolism in schizophrenics and their siblings.
- Author
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Waldo MC, Cawthra E, Adler LE, Dubester S, Staunton M, Nagamoto H, Baker N, Madison A, Simon J, and Scherzinger A
- Subjects
- Acoustic Stimulation, Adult, Amygdala pathology, Amygdala physiopathology, Arousal genetics, Chronic Disease, Dopamine physiology, Evoked Potentials, Auditory genetics, Female, Habituation, Psychophysiologic genetics, Hippocampus pathology, Homovanillic Acid blood, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Methoxyhydroxyphenylglycol blood, Neural Inhibition genetics, Neural Inhibition physiology, Psychiatric Status Rating Scales, Schizophrenia genetics, Vanilmandelic Acid blood, Arousal physiology, Attention physiology, Catecholamines blood, Evoked Potentials, Auditory physiology, Habituation, Psychophysiologic physiology, Hippocampus physiopathology, Schizophrenia physiopathology, Schizophrenic Psychology
- Abstract
Schizophrenia may result from the concerted action of several pathophysiological factors. This pilot study compared the distribution of measurements of three such putative factors in 11 schizophrenics and their siblings: a neurophysiological deficit in auditory sensory gating, diminished hippocampal volume, and increased catecholamine metabolism. Abnormal auditory sensory gating was found in all schizophrenics in the 11 families studied and in 8 of their 20 siblings. Compared with the schizophrenics, the clinically unaffected siblings with abnormal auditory gating had larger hippocampal volume. There was no similar difference for the siblings with normal gating. The siblings with abnormal auditory gating also had lower homovanillic acid levels than the other siblings. The data suggest that a familial neuronal deficit, identified by diminished sensory gating, may be a necessary, but not sufficient factor in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. Individuals with this deficit are generally clinically unaffected, except for schizophrenics, who also have other abnormalities, such as diminished hippocampal volume and increased catecholamine metabolism.
- Published
- 1994
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