No abstract

Background: In recent years, neuroimaging has been used increasingly to explore the biological underpinnings of violence carried out by schizophrenia patients (SPs). Studies have focused mostly on patients with a history of carrying out severe physical assaults, or comorbid with substance abuse/personality disorder (SA/PD). As a result, participants were unrepresentative and the interpretation of brain-structure changes was confusing. Here, we concentrated on SPs on a general psychiatric ward with a history of relatively lower violence, and individuals comorbid with SA or PD were excluded. We expected to identify the characteristics of brain morphometry in this population, and to explore whether the morphometric changes were universal. Methods: Forty-eight violent schizophrenia patients (VSPs), twenty-seven non-VSPs (nVSPs) and 28 nonviolent healthy controls (HCs) were investigated. Voxel-based morphometry was used to evaluate the gray matter volume (GMV) of all study participants. Whole-brain analyses were used to reveal group effects and differences between any two groups. Correlation analyses were undertaken between significant brain regions and behavioral measurements in the VSP group.

Deficits in inhibitory control have been linked to aggression and violent behaviour. This study aimed to observe whether violent adolescents show different brain activation patterns during response inhibition and to ascertain the roles these brain regions play. A self-report method and modified overt aggression scale (MOAS) were used to evaluate violent behaviour. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was performed in 22 violent adolescents and 17 matched healthy subjects aged 12 to 18 years. While scanning, a go/no-go task was performed. Between-group comparisons revealed that activation in the bilateral middle and superior temporal gyrus, hippocampus, and right orbitofrontal area (BA11) regions were significantly reduced in the violent group compared with the control group. Meanwhile, the violent group had more widespread activation in the prefrontal cortex than that observed in the control group. Activation of the prefrontal cortex in the violent group was widespread but lacking in focus, failing to produce intensive activation in some functionally related regions during response inhibition.