Smaller Amygdala Subnuclei Volume in Schizophrenia Patients with Violent Behaviors

Abstract Objective To investigate the association between the volume of amygdala subnuclei and violent behaviors in patients with schizophrenia (SCZ). Methods In the present study, we recruited 40 SCZ patients with violent behaviors (VS), 26 SCZ patients without violent behaviors (NVS), and 28 matched healthy controls (HC) who completed T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging. Both the total amygdala and amygdala subnuclei volumes were estimated with FreeSurfer. Results When comparing the whole SCZ patients with HC, SCZ patients had smaller volume of the left amygdala and the left basal nucleus. Further, the VS patients had smaller volume of the amygdala central nucleus as compared to the NVS group. Conclusions Our findings suggested that a smaller volume of the amygdala central nucleus might be relevant to violence risk in SCZ patients.