Pilar Salgado-Pineda, Paola Fuentes-Claramonte, Lucila Barbosa, Ana Aquino-Servín, Joan Soler-Vidal, María Ángeles García-León, Francesco Panicali, Nuria Ramiro-Sousa, Llanos Torres, Emilio J Inarejos Clemente, Noemí Hostalet, Mar Fatjó-Vilas, Tomás Castelló-Pons, Manel Sánchez, Salvador Sarró, Raymond Salvador, Peter J McKenna, Edith Pomarol-Clotet
These findings suggest that while right frontoinsular alterations may reflect general developmental vulnerability to schizophrenia, left inferior frontal abnormalities may index a specific neurodevelopmental substrate predisposing to negative symptoms.
BACKGROUND: Negative symptoms are a core dimension of schizophrenia, yet their neurodevelopmental basis remains poorly understood. Sulcal pits-early-forming cortical landmarks that remain stable across the lifespan-provide a promising structural marker of neurodevelopment.
STUDY DESIGN: We examined sulcal pit morphology in 87 patients with schizophrenia and 88 matched healthy controls using whole-brain automated extraction and group-level parcellation into 'areals'.
STUDY RESULTS: The patients as a group showed significantly reduced sulcal pit depth in a right orbitofrontal-insular areal. Comparing two demographically matched patient subgroups with high (n = 31) and absent (n = 24) negative symptoms revealed that the high negative symptom patients exhibited significantly greater sulcal pit depth in a left inferior frontal areal encompassing the pars opercularis, inferior premotor cortex, and anterior insula; this result remained significant when controlling for disorganization scores. No group differences were found in sulcal pit frequency.
CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that while right frontoinsular alterations may reflect general developmental vulnerability to schizophrenia, left inferior frontal abnormalities may index a specific neurodevelopmental substrate predisposing to negative symptoms.