Correlations between volumes of the pulvinar, centromedian, and mediodorsal nuclei and cortical Brodmann's areas in schizophrenia

Correlations between the MRI-assessed volumes of the pulvinar, centromedian, and mediodorsal nuclei of the thalamus and 39 cortical Brodmann's areas were evaluated and compared in 41 unmedicated schizophrenia patients and 59 healthy comparison subjects. For the right pulvinar, positive intercorrelations with ipsilateral orbitofrontal and occipital cortices were significantly weaker while negative intercorrelations with dorsolateral prefrontal and temporopolar/entorhinal cortices were stronger in schizophrenia patients compared to healthy subjects. For the centromedian nucleus, positive correlation with the dorsolateral prefrontal area 46 in the right hemisphere was significantly weaker in patients than in healthy subjects. Higher cortical/pulvinar volume ratios for the right frontotemporal regions with stronger negative correlations in patients were associated with better performance on recall and semantic memory tasks. Right pulvinocortical disconnections in patients with schizophrenia may be related to visual attentional deficits whereas stronger-than-normal inverse pulvinar associations with the heteromodal cortical regions may reflect compensatory reliance on alternative information-processing strategies.