Microstructural White Matter and Links With Subcortical Structures in Chronic Schizophrenia: A Free-Water Imaging Approach.

Clicks: 387
ID: 100553
2020
Article Quality & Performance Metrics
Overall Quality
Not rated
Combines reader engagement with the AI quality analysis. This article has not been analysed, so there is no overall score — reader engagement is measured and shown alongside.
AI Quality Assessment
Not analyzed
Readership in this journal
Emerging

Ranked #12 of 77 articles by views in Frontiers in psychiatry

Most read Least read

Bar heights use a square-root scale.

Mint this article as an NFT
Not yet minted

Create a permanent, verifiable on-chain record of this article on the Scimatic Network. The NFT is held in your Journament account, and you can withdraw it to your own wallet at any time.

5 SUSD one-off · no wallet required
Sign in to mint
Abstract
Schizophrenia is a severe mental disorder with often a chronic course. Neuroimaging studies report brain abnormalities in both white and gray matter structures. However, the relationship between microstructural white matter differences and volumetric subcortical structures is not known. We investigated 30 long-term treated patients with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder (mean age 51.1 ± 7.9 years, mean illness duration 27.6 ± 8.0 years) and 42 healthy controls (mean age 54.1 ± 9.1 years) using 3 T diffusion and structural magnetic resonance imaging. The free-water imaging method was used to model the diffusion signal, and subcortical volumes were obtained from FreeSurfer. We applied multiple linear regression to investigate associations between (i) patient status and regional white matter microstructure, (ii) medication dose or clinical symptoms on white matter microstructure in patients, and (iii) for interactions between subcortical volumes and diagnosis on microstructural white matter regions showing significant patient-control differences. The patients had significantly decreased free-water corrected fractional anisotropy (FA), explained by decreased axial diffusivity and increased radial diffusivity (RD) bilaterally in the anterior corona radiata (ACR) and the left anterior limb of the internal capsule (ALIC) compared to controls. In the fornix, the patients had significantly increased RD. In patients, positive symptoms were associated with localized increased free-water and negative symptoms with localized decreased FA and increased RD. There were significant interactions between patient status and several subcortical structures on white matter microstructure and the free-water compartment for left ACR and fornix, and limited to the free-water compartment for right ACR and left ALIC. The Cohen's d effect sizes were medium to large (0.61 to 1.20, absolute values). The results suggest a specific pattern of frontal white matter axonal degeneration and demyelination and fornix demyelination that is attenuated in the presence of larger structures of the limbic system in patients with chronic schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder. Findings warrant replication in larger samples.
Reference Key
gurholt2020microstructuralfrontiers Use this key to autocite in the manuscript while using SciMatic Manuscript Manager or Thesis Manager
Authors Gurholt, Tiril P;Haukvik, Unn K;Lonning, Vera;Jönsson, Erik G;Pasternak, Ofer;Agartz, Ingrid;
Journal Frontiers in psychiatry
Year 2020
DOI
10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00056
URL
Keywords
Magnetic resonance imaging diffusion tensor imaging psychosis gray matter brain abnormalities free-water imaging subcortical structures white matter microstructure

Citations

No citations found. To add a citation, contact the admin at info@scimatic.org

Comments

No comments yet. Be the first to comment on this article.