Cerebellum May Play Major Role in Schizophrenia

The volume of the cerebellum is smaller in people with schizophrenia than in healthy individuals, Norweigan researchers found, in the largest brain imaging study to date on the cerebellum in schizophrenia.

The findings, published in Molecular Psychiatry, have important implications for the understanding of the disorder, the study team said.
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“These findings clearly show that the cerebellum plays a major role in schizophrenia,” said lead author Torgeir Moberget, PhD.

Researchers used sophisticated tools and brain scans performed on 2300 participants from 14 international sites to analyze the volume and shape of the brain.

Using large sets of data allowed them to find very nuanced differences in brain volume between patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls, they said.

“It is important to emphasize that the brain differences we see in schizophrenia are generally very subtle. This is one reason why large collaborative studies are so important,” Dr. Moberget said. “When we saw the same pattern repeated across many groups of patients and controls from different countries, the findings became much more convincing.”

The cerebellum (Latin for "little brain") is about 20% of the human brain, but contains about 70% of all of its neurons. It has traditionally been viewed as responsible for body movement and coordination.

—Terri Airov

Reference

The "little brain" plays a major role in schizophrenia [press release]. Oslo, Norway: University of Oslo, Faculty of Medicine; June 21, 2017.