Data from: Structural alterations of the social brain: a comparison between schizophrenia and autism

Autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia share a substantial number of etiologic and phenotypic characteristics. Still, no direct comparison of both disorders has been performed to identify differences and commonalities in brain structure. In this voxel based morphometry study, 34 patients with autism spectrum disorder, 21 patients with schizophrenia and 26 typically developed control subjects were included to identify global and regional brain volume alterations. No global gray matter or white matter differences were found between groups. In regional data, patients with autism spectrum disorder compared to typically developed control subjects showed smaller gray matter volume in the amygdala, insula, and anterior medial prefrontal cortex. Compared to patients with schizophrenia, patients with autism spectrum disorder displayed smaller gray matter volume in the left insula. Disorder specific positive correlations were found between mentalizing ability and left amygdala volume in autism spectrum disorder, and hallucinatory behavior and insula volume in schizophrenia. Results suggest the involvement of social brain areas in both disorders. Further studies are needed to replicate these findings and to quantify the amount of distinct and overlapping neural correlates in autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia.

孤独症谱系障碍（Autism Spectrum Disorder, ASD）与精神分裂症（Schizophrenia）共享大量病因学与表型特征，但目前尚无针对这两种疾病的直接对照研究，以明确二者在脑结构层面的差异与共性。本项基于体素的形态测量学（Voxel-Based Morphometry, VBM）研究共纳入34名孤独症谱系障碍患者、21名精神分裂症患者及26名典型发育对照受试者，旨在探究全脑与局部脑体积的异常改变。各组间未观察到全脑灰质或白质体积的显著差异。局部脑体积分析结果显示，相较于典型发育对照受试者，孤独症谱系障碍患者的杏仁核、脑岛及前内侧前额叶皮层灰质体积更小；与精神分裂症患者相比，孤独症谱系障碍患者的左侧脑岛灰质体积同样更小。研究还发现了疾病特异性的相关关系：孤独症谱系障碍患者的心智化能力与左侧杏仁核体积呈正相关，而精神分裂症患者的幻觉行为与脑岛体积呈正相关。本研究结果提示，社会脑区域在这两种疾病的病理机制中均有参与。未来仍需开展重复验证研究，以量化孤独症谱系障碍与精神分裂症在神经关联物层面的特异性与重叠程度。