Spatial Characteristics of White Matter Abnormalities in Schizophrenia

Tonya White, S Ehrlich, BC Ho, DS Manoach, A Caprihan, SC Schulz, NC Andreasen, RL Gollub, VD Calhoun, VA Magnotta

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

36 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

There is considerable evidence implicating brain white matter (WM) abnormalities in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia; however, the spatial localization of WM abnormalities reported in the existing studies is heterogeneous. Thus, the goal of this study was to quantify the spatial characteristics of WM abnormalities in schizophrenia. One hundred and fourteen patients with schizophrenia and 138 matched controls participated in this multisite study involving the Universities of Iowa, Minnesota, and New Mexico, and the Massachusetts General Hospital. We measured fractional anisotropy (FA) in brain WM regions extracted using 3 different image-processing algorithms: regions of interest, tract-based spatial statistics, and the pothole approach. We found that FA was significantly lower in patients using each of the 3 image-processing algorithms. The region-of-interest approach showed multiple regions with lower FA in patients with schizophrenia, with overlap at all 4 sites in the corpus callosum and posterior thalamic radiation. The tract-based spatial statistic approach showed (1) global differences in 3 of the 4 cohorts and (2) lower frontal FA at the Iowa site. Finally, the pothole approach showed a significantly greater number of WM potholes in patients compared to controls at each of the 4 sites. In conclusion, the spatial characteristics of WM abnormalities in schizophrenia reflect a combination of a global low-level decrease in FA, suggesting a diffuse process, coupled with widely dispersed focal reductions in FA that vary spatially among individuals (ie, potholes).
Original languageUndefined/Unknown
Pages (from-to)1077-1086
Number of pages10
JournalSchizophrenia Bulletin
Volume39
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2013

Cite this