Reduced white matter integrity and cognitive deficit in never-medicated chronic schizophrenia: a diffusion tensor study using TBSS.

Disrupted white matter (WM) integrity is the pathological hallmark of schizophrenia. Previous studies have reported the cognitive deficits that are associated with WM disruption in schizophrenia with anti-psychiatric treatment. However, no study has yet revealed the correlation between cognition and WM abnormalities in never-medicated chronic schizophrenia. We used the diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) with tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) approach to investigate the whole-brain difference in the WM fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD), axial diffusivity (AD) and radial diffusivity (RD) values between 17 schizophrenia patients and 17 healthy controls matched in age, gender and education level. Patients' cognition was assessed through the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB). We explored the association between WM reduction and cognitive, clinical characteristics (severity of clinical symptoms, age, age of onset, illness duration). Voxel-wise statistics revealed that schizophrenia patients showed significant FA reduction in left inferior longitudinal fasciculus (ILF) and left inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus (IFOF), and no difference in MD, AD or RD as compared to healthy subjects. Furthermore, in the patients group, lower FA value of the left ILF and left IFOF significantly correlated with worse processing speed, as well as verbal learning and visual learning abilities. There was no correlation between the FA value and the severity of clinical symptoms, age, and age of onset or illness duration. Our results provide evidence to support that the disconnection of WM pathways may contribute to the pathophysiology of schizophrenia and suggest that the disturbance of left ILF and left IFOF integrity may contribute to cognitive deficits in schizophrenia, independent of effects of antipsychotic medication.

Liu X ，Lai Y ，Wang X ，Hao C ，Chen L ，Zhou Z ，Yu X ，Hong N ... -  《-》

Impaired empathic abilities and reduced white matter integrity in schizophrenia.

Empathic abilities are impaired in schizophrenia. Although the pathology of schizophrenia is thought to involve disrupted white matter integrity, the relationship between empathic disabilities and altered white matter in the disorder remains unclear. The present study tested associations between empathic disabilities and white matter integrity in order to investigate the neural basis of impaired empathy in schizophrenia. Sixty-nine patients with schizophrenia and 69 age-, gender-, handedness-, education- and IQ level-matched healthy controls underwent diffusion-weighted imaging. Empathic abilities were assessed using the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI). Using tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS), the associations between empathic abilities and white matter fractional anisotropy (FA), a measure of white matter integrity, were examined in the patient group within brain areas that showed a significant FA reduction compared with the controls. The patients with schizophrenia reported lower perspective taking and higher personal distress according to the IRI. The patients showed a significant FA reduction in bilateral deep white matter in the frontal, temporal, parietal and occipital lobes, a large portion of the corpus callosum, and the corona radiata. In schizophrenia patients, fantasy subscales positively correlated with FA in the left inferior fronto-occipital fasciculi and anterior thalamic radiation, and personal distress subscales negatively correlated with FA in the splenium of the corpus callosum. These results suggest that disrupted white matter integrity in these regions constitutes a pathology underpinning specific components of empathic disabilities in schizophrenia, highlighting that different aspects of empathic impairments in the disorder would have, at least partially, distinct neuropathological bases.

Fujino J ，Takahashi H ，Miyata J ，Sugihara G ，Kubota M ，Sasamoto A ，Fujiwara H ，Aso T ，Fukuyama H ，Murai T ... -  《-》

Effect of clozapine on white matter integrity in patients with schizophrenia: a diffusion tensor imaging study.

Several diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) studies have reported disturbed white matter integrity in various brain regions in patients with schizophrenia, whereas only a few studied the effect of antipsychotics on DTI measures. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of 12 weeks of clozapine treatment on DTI findings in patients with schizophrenia, and to compare the findings with those in unaffected controls. The study included 16 patients with schizophrenia who were assessed with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale, a neurocognitive test battery, and DTI at baseline and 12 weeks after the initiation of clozapine treatment. Eight unaffected controls were assessed once with the neurocognitive test battery and DTI. Voxel-wise analysis of DTI data was performed via tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS). Compared with the control group, the patient group exhibited lower fractional anisotropy (FA) in 16 brain regions, including the bilateral superior longitudinal fasciculi, inferior fronto-occipital fasciculi, superior and inferior parietal lobules, cingulate bundles, cerebellum, middle cerebellar peduncles, and left inferior longitudinal fasciculus, whereas the patients had higher FA in six regions, including the right parahippocampus, left anterior thalamic radiation, and right posterior limb of the internal capsule before clozapine treatment. After 12 weeks of treatment with clozapine, white matter FA was increased in widespread brain regions. In two of the regions where FA had initially been lower in patients compared with controls (left inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus and superior parietal lobule), clozapine appeared to increase FA. An improvement in semantic fluency was correlated with the increase in FA value in the left inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus. An increase in FA following 12 weeks of treatment with clozapine suggests that this treatment alters white matter microstructural integrity in patients with schizophrenia previously treated with typical and/or atypical antipsychotics and, in some locations, reverses a previous deficit.

Ozcelik-Eroglu E ，Ertugrul A ，Oguz KK ，Has AC ，Karahan S ，Yazici MK ... -  《-》

Reduced white matter fractional anisotropy and clinical symptoms in schizophrenia: a voxel-based diffusion tensor imaging study.

Although not consistently replicated, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) studies in schizophrenia have revealed lower fractional anisotropy (FA) in various white matter regions, a finding consistent with the disruption of white matter integrity. In this study, we used voxel-based DTI to investigate possible whole-brain differences in the white matter FA values between 58 schizophrenia patients and 58 healthy controls. We also explored the association between FA values and clinical symptoms in schizophrenia. Compared with the controls, the schizophrenia patients showed significant FA reductions in bilateral superior longitudinal fasciculus, bilateral inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus, and genu of right internal capsule. Furthermore, in the patient group, the FA value of the anterior part of the corpus callosum was negatively correlated with the avolition score on the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms. These findings suggest widespread disruption of white matter integrity in schizophrenia, which could partly explain the severity of negative symptomatology.

Nakamura K ，Kawasaki Y ，Takahashi T ，Furuichi A ，Noguchi K ，Seto H ，Suzuki M ... -  《PSYCHIATRY RESEARCH》

Abnormal white matter microstructure in drug-naive first episode schizophrenia patients before and after eight weeks of antipsychotic treatment.

Abnormal white matter integrity has been reported among first episode schizophrenia patients. However, findings on whether it can be reversed by short-term antipsychotic medications are inconsistent. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) was obtained from 55 drug-naive first episode schizophrenia patients and 61 healthy controls, and was repeated among 25 patients and 31 controls after 8 weeks during which patients were medicated with antipsychotics. White matter integrity is measured using fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD), axial diffusivity (AD) and radial diffusivity (RD). These measures showing a group difference by Tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) at baseline were extracted for longitudinal comparisons. At baseline, patients exhibited lower FA, higher MD and higher RD versus controls in forceps, left superior longitudinal fasciculus, inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus, left corticospinal tract, left uncinate fasciculus, left anterior thalamic radiation, and bilateral inferior longitudinal fasciculi. FA values of schizophrenia patients correlated with their negative symptoms (r=-0.412, P=0.002), working memory (r=0.377, P=0.005) and visual learning (r=0.281, P=0.038). The longitudinal changes in DTI indices in these tracts did not differ between patients and controls. However, among the patients the longitudinal changes in FA values in left superior longitudinal fasciculus correlated with the change of positive symptoms (r=-0.560, p=0.004), and the change of processing speed (r=0.469, p=0.018). White matter deficits were validated in the present study by a relatively large sample of medication naïve and first episode schizophrenia patients. They could be associated with negative symptoms and cognitive impairment, whereas improvement in white matter integrity of left superior longitudinal fasciculus correlated with improvement in psychosis and processing speed. Further examination of treatment-related changes in white matter integrity may provide clues to the mechanism of antipsychotic response and provide a biomarker for clinical studies.

Zeng B ，Ardekani BA ，Tang Y ，Zhang T ，Zhao S ，Cui H ，Fan X ，Zhuo K ，Li C ，Xu Y ，Goff DC ，Wang J ... -  《-》