Related Experiment Videos
Compromised white matter tract integrity in schizophrenia inferred from diffusion tensor imaging.
K O Lim1, M Hedehus, M Moseley
1Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, Orangeburg, NY 10962, USA. lim@nki.rfmh.org
Archives of General Psychiatry
|April 10, 1999
Summary
Schizophrenia patients show altered brain white matter integrity, not volume deficits, using diffusion tensor imaging. This neuroimaging technique reveals widespread white matter changes across the brain in individuals with schizophrenia.
Area of Science:
- Neuroimaging
- Psychiatric Research
- Brain Anatomy
Background:
- Schizophrenia may involve qualitative white matter changes independent of volume.
- Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) offers in vivo quantification of white matter fiber coherence and connectivity.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate white matter integrity in schizophrenia using DTI.
- To compare white matter and gray matter in patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls.
Main Methods:
- Magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and structural imaging were used.
- Ten male US military veterans with schizophrenia (DSM-IV criteria) and 10 age-matched male controls participated.
Main Results:
- Patients with schizophrenia had significantly lower white matter anisotropy than controls, despite no white matter volume difference.
- Gray matter anisotropy did not differ between groups, though patients had reduced gray matter volume.
- Abnormal white matter anisotropy was widespread, bilateral, and extended from frontal to occipital regions.
Conclusions:
- DTI effectively detected significant group differences in white matter integrity in schizophrenia.
- Findings indicate widespread white matter alterations in schizophrenia, not necessarily linked to volume deficits.