Structural and Functional Alterations of the Temporal lobe in Schizophrenia: A Literature Review

Abstract

Schizophrenia is a severe chronic mental illness leading to social and occupational dysfunction. Our primary focus in this review article was to analyze further the structural and functional alterations of the temporal lobe in patients with schizophrenia, which might contribute to the associated manifestations we often see in this illness. Our goal was to see if there was any correlation between temporal lobe abnormalities, more specifically, alterations in brain volume and specific symptoms such as auditory and language processing, etc. There is a positive correlation between volume alterations and thoughts disorders in the temporal lobe in the majority of studies. However, superior temporal gyrus volume has also been correlated negatively with the severity of hallucinations and thought disorders in some studies. We utilized Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) search strategy via PubMed database in our articles search yielding 241 papers. After the application of specific inclusion and exclusion criteria, a final number of 30 was reviewed. The involvement of the temporal lobe and its gray and white matter volume alterations in schizophrenia is quite apparent from our research; however, the exact mechanism of the underlying biological process is not thoroughly studied yet. Therefore, further research on larger cohorts combining different imaging modalities including volumetry, diffusion tensor, and functional imaging is required to explain how the progressive brain changes affect the various structural, functional, and metabolic activities of the temporal lobe in schizophrenia.

Meta-analysis of structural and functional brain abnormalities in schizophrenia with persistent negative symptoms using activation likelihood estimation

“…The STG is involved in emotion processing, particularly negative emotions as shown in studies of facial emotion perception ( 73 , 74 ). Previous articles reported that schizophrenia patients had significantly smaller bilateral STG volumes than HCs ( 75 ), which was negatively correlated with the severity of auditory hallucinations and thought disorder ( 76 , 77 ). Consistent with our results, one study of schizophrenia with PNS found a reduction of gray matter in the left STG ( 78 ).…”

Cognitive Processes and Resting-State Functional Neuroimaging Findings in High Schizotypal Individuals and Schizotypal Personality Disorder Patients: A Systematic Review

“…As far as the specific schizotypal dimensions are concerned, rs-fMRI findings suggest that (a) there is altered cortico-striatal connectivity in individuals with high positive schizotypy [ 55 , 56 , 57 ]; the association of positive schizotypy with lower FC between areas of visual, posterior default mode and task control networks could be the basis of abnormal perception, suspiciousness and self-referential thought [ 62 ]; (b) high negative schizotypy/social anhedonia is associated with abnormal striatal FC, which could be an early change in the reward system of the brain [ 54 ], similar to the hypo-connectivity also found in psychotic patients [ 114 ] and (c) the reduced FC of the dorsal striatum with the posterior cingulate and middle temporal gyrus is associated with disorganized schizotypy [ 55 ] in accordance with the contribution of these brain regions in cognitive impairment and general pathology in schizophrenia [ 121 , 122 ].…”

Patterns of impaired neurocognitive performance on Global Neuropsychological Assessment (GNA), and their brain structural correlates in recent-onset and chronic schizophrenia: A pilot study

“…The anterior and medial temporal lobe regions have been consistently implicated in schizophrenia pathogenesis and its clinical presentation (Bobilev et al, 2020; DeRamus et al, 2020; Kaur et al, 2020). The anterior temporal lobe (ATL) is crucial for verbal and non-verbal semantic processing (Binney et al, 2010; Snowden et al, 2018), and is considered a ‘transmodal hub’ (the ‘hub-and-spoke’ hypothesis of semantic memory) involved in processing semantic aspects of stimuli across sensory modalities (Lambon Ralph et al, 2010).…”

“…al., 2020; DeRamus et al, 2020;Kaur et al, 2020). The anterior temporal lobe (ATL) is crucial for verbal and nonverbal semantic processing(Binney et al, 2010;Snowden et al, 2018), and is considered a 'transmodal hub' (the 'hub-and-spoke' hypothesis of semantic memory) involved in processing semantic aspects of stimuli across sensory modalities (Lambon.…”