Structure and function of the corpus callosum in schizophrenia: What's the connection?

Tests of both structure and function of the corpus callosum have revealed abnormalities in schizophrenic patients. One such functional test employed lateralised Stroop stimuli presented tachistoscopically, to measure the transfer of interference and facilitation between the cerebral hemispheres. An attempt was made to relate indices of callosal transfer to clinical and demographic variables, including family history, as well as to indices of brain morphology. The latter included ventricle: brain ratio (VBR) measured by computed tomography (CT) scanning on 31 DSMIII schizophrenics, and the cross-sectional area of the corpus callosum from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), obtained from 20 of these patients. VBR did not relate to functional measures; however, anterior callosal area correlated with indices of callosal connectivity. Patients with auditory hallucinations had smaller anterior callosal areas and tended to show less connectivity. The results show links between functional and structural measures of the corpus callosum, but their precise nature remains unclear.