Dataset Information

Reduced fronto-striatal white matter integrity in schizophrenia patients and unaffected siblings: a DTI study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Schizophrenia is characterized by impairments in the fronto-striatal network. Underlying these impairments may be disruptions in anatomical pathways connecting frontal and striatal regions. However, the specifics of these disruptions remain unclear and whether these impairments are related to the genetic vulnerability of schizophrenia is not known.

Methods

Here, we investigated fronto-striatal tract connections in 24 schizophrenia patients, 30 unaffected siblings, and 58 healthy controls using diffusion tensor imaging. Mean fractional anisotropy (FA) was calculated for tracts connecting the striatum with frontal cortex regions including the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), medial orbital frontal cortex, and inferior frontal gyrus. Specifically, the striatum was divided into three subregions (caudate nucleus, putamen, and nucleus accumbens) and mean FA was computed for tracts originating from these striatal subregions.

Results

We found no differences between patients, siblings, and controls in mean FA when taking the whole striatum as a seed region. However, subregion analyses showed reduced FA in the tract connecting the left nucleus accumbens and left DLPFC in both patients (P=0.0003) and siblings (P=0.0008) compared with controls.

Conclusions

The result of reduced FA in the tract connecting the left nucleus accumbens and left DLPFC indicates a possible reduction of white matter integrity, commonly associated with schizophrenia. As both patients and unaffected siblings show reduced FA, this may represent a vulnerability factor for schizophrenia.

SUBMITTER: de Leeuw M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4849442 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Reduced fronto-striatal white matter integrity in schizophrenia patients and unaffected siblings: a DTI study.

de Leeuw Max M Bohlken Marc M MM Mandl René C W RC Kahn René S RS Vink Matthijs M

NPJ schizophrenia 20150401

<h4>Background</h4>Schizophrenia is characterized by impairments in the fronto-striatal network. Underlying these impairments may be disruptions in anatomical pathways connecting frontal and striatal regions. However, the specifics of these disruptions remain unclear and whether these impairments are related to the genetic vulnerability of schizophrenia is not known.<h4>Methods</h4>Here, we investigated fronto-striatal tract connections in 24 schizophrenia patients, 30 unaffected siblings, and 5 ...[more]

PMID: 27336028

Similar Datasets

Project description:BACKGROUND:Altered structural network-connectivity has been reported in psychotic disorder but whether these alterations are associated with genetic vulnerability, and/or with phenotypic variation, has been less well examined. This study examined i) whether differences in network-connectivity exist between patients with psychotic disorder, siblings of patients with psychotic disorder and controls, and ii) whether network-connectivity alterations vary with (subclinical) symptomatology. METHODS:Network-connectivity measures (global efficiency (GE), density, local efficiency (LE), clustering coefficient (CC)) were derived from diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) and were compared between 85 patients with psychotic disorder, 93 siblings without psychotic disorder and 80 healthy comparison subjects using multilevel regression models. In patients, associations between Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) symptoms and topological measures were examined. In addition, interactions between subclinical psychopathology and sibling/healthy comparison subject status were examined in models of topological measures. RESULTS:While there was no main effect of group with respect to GE, density, LE and CC, siblings had a significantly higher CC compared to patients (B = 0.0039, p = .002). In patients, none of the PANSS symptom domains were significantly associated with any of the four network-connectivity measures. The two-way interaction between group and SIR-r positive score in the model of LE was significant (χ2 = 6.24, p = .01, df = 1). In the model of CC, the interactions between group and respectively SIS-r positive (χ2 = 5.59, p = .02, df = 1) and negative symptom scores (χ2 = 4.71, p = .03, df = 1) were significant. Stratified analysis showed that, in siblings, decreased LE and CC was significantly associated with increased SIS-r positive scores (LE: B = -0.0049, p = .003, CC: B = -0.0066, p = .01) and that decreased CC was significantly associated with increased SIS-r negative scores (B = -0.012, p = .003). There were no significant interactions between group and SIS-r scores in the models of GE and density. CONCLUSION:The findings indicate absence of structural network-connectivity alterations in individuals with psychotic disorder and in individuals at higher than average genetic risk for psychotic disorder, in comparison with healthy subjects. The differential subclinical symptom-network connectivity associations in siblings with respect to controls may be a sign of psychosis vulnerability in the siblings.

Dataset Information

Reduced fronto-striatal white matter integrity in schizophrenia patients and unaffected siblings: a DTI study.

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Reduced fronto-striatal white matter integrity in schizophrenia patients and unaffected siblings: a DTI study.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets