Objective: The majority of patients with schizophrenia and mood disorders [ Bipolar Disorder (BD), Unipolar Depression(UD)] report sleep and circadian rhythm disruption. The human pineal gland has a function in the circadian rhythm and sleep by the secretion of melatonin. The aim of the present study was to compare the pineal gland volumes in patients with BD, UD, schizophrenia and controls in our hospital.
Methods: Based on our electronic hospital information database, we retrospectively evaluated 50 patients (16 patients with UD, 17 patients with BD, 17 patients with schizophrenia) and 30 controls that had undergone cranial MRI studies in our outpatient clinic. Total pineal gland volume was measured for each pineal gland with T1 MRI sequence.
Results: Subjects were analyzed for total pineal volume. Compared with other groups, total pineal volume was significantly smaller in schizophrenic patients. (Total pineal volume in schizophrenia 83.5±10.1, in BD 93.7±11.4, in UD 95.1±11.2 and in controls: 99.7±12,03 mm³ p: 0,03).
Conclusion: Our results indicate that; the melatonin levels did certainly not inşuence pineal morphology and we can say that schizophrenia is a neurodevelopment illness and in the etiopathogenetic area, schizophrenia might be separated from mood disorders.