TY - JOUR
T1 - Anatomical brain connectivity and positive symptoms of schizophrenia
T2 - A diffusion tensor imaging study
AU - Rotarska-Jagiela, Anna
AU - Oertel-Knoechel, Viola
AU - DeMartino, Federico
AU - van de Ven, Vincent
AU - Formisano, Elia
AU - Roebroeck, Alard
AU - Rami, Abdelhaq
AU - Schoenmeyer, Ralf
AU - Haenschel, Corinna
AU - Hendler, Talma
AU - Maurer, Konrad
AU - Vogeley, Kai
AU - Linden, David E.J.
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was conducted in the Frankfurt Brain Imaging Center supported by the German Ministry of Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, BMBF) (Frankfurt, DLR 01GO0203). ARJ was supported by a Josef Buchmann Doctoral Scholarship, and CH and DL received an Academic Research Collaboration grant from the German Academic Exchange Service and the British Council (no. 1229).
PY - 2009/10/30
Y1 - 2009/10/30
N2 - Structural brain changes in schizophrenia are well documented in the neuroimaging literature. The classical morphometric analyses of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data have recently been supplemented by diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), which mainly assesses changes in white matter (WM). DTI increasingly provides evidence for abnormal anatomical connectivity in schizophrenia, most often using fractional anisotropy (FA) as an indicator of the integrity of WM tracts. To better understand the clinical significance of such anatomical changes, we studied FA values in a whole-brain analysis comparing paranoid schizophrenic patients with a history of auditory hallucinations and matched healthy controls. The relationship of WM changes to psychopathology was assessed by correlating FA values with PANSS scores (positive symptoms and severity of auditory hallucinations) and with illness duration. Schizophrenic patients showed FA reductions indicating WM integrity disturbance in the prefrontal regions, external capsule, pyramidal tract, occipitofrontal fasciculus, superior and inferior longitudinal fasciculi, and corpus callosum. The arcuate fasciculus was the only tract which showed increased FA values in patients. Increased FA values in this region correlated with increased severity of auditory hallucinations and length of illness. Our results suggest that local changes in anatomical integrity of WM tracts in schizophrenia may be related to patients' clinical presentation.
AB - Structural brain changes in schizophrenia are well documented in the neuroimaging literature. The classical morphometric analyses of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data have recently been supplemented by diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), which mainly assesses changes in white matter (WM). DTI increasingly provides evidence for abnormal anatomical connectivity in schizophrenia, most often using fractional anisotropy (FA) as an indicator of the integrity of WM tracts. To better understand the clinical significance of such anatomical changes, we studied FA values in a whole-brain analysis comparing paranoid schizophrenic patients with a history of auditory hallucinations and matched healthy controls. The relationship of WM changes to psychopathology was assessed by correlating FA values with PANSS scores (positive symptoms and severity of auditory hallucinations) and with illness duration. Schizophrenic patients showed FA reductions indicating WM integrity disturbance in the prefrontal regions, external capsule, pyramidal tract, occipitofrontal fasciculus, superior and inferior longitudinal fasciculi, and corpus callosum. The arcuate fasciculus was the only tract which showed increased FA values in patients. Increased FA values in this region correlated with increased severity of auditory hallucinations and length of illness. Our results suggest that local changes in anatomical integrity of WM tracts in schizophrenia may be related to patients' clinical presentation.
KW - Anatomical connectivity
KW - Diffusion Tensor Imaging
KW - Hallucinations
KW - Schizophrenia
KW - White matter
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=71749104019&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2009.03.002
DO - 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2009.03.002
M3 - ???researchoutput.researchoutputtypes.contributiontojournal.article???
AN - SCOPUS:71749104019
SN - 0925-4927
VL - 174
SP - 9
EP - 16
JO - Psychiatry Research - Neuroimaging
JF - Psychiatry Research - Neuroimaging
IS - 1
ER -