This slide depicts the progression of gray matter deficits (cortex) of the schizophrenia group over a period of five years.  Red and pink zones (frontal, parietal, and temporal lobes) show the greatest areas of shrinkage, relative to normal controls.
	Although the researchers were quick to attribute these findings to the patients’ “underlying” condition (schizophrenia), it is important to appreciate the study design.   All of these teenagers had failed at least two previous trials of antipsychotics prior to the first brain scan.  In their publication, Thompson et al did not divulge details about the age-of-onset, duration, or doses of past pharmaceuticals.  Nevertheless, the fact that these exposures had occurred prior to age 14 makes it difficult to accept the researchers’ conclusion that the observed abnormalities were not the result of prepubertal exposures to neurotoxins.