Journal
SCHIZOPHRENIA RESEARCH
Volume 162, Issue 1-3, Pages 1-6Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2014.12.041
Keywords
Myelin; Neuroimaging; Psychosis; Quadratic
Categories
Funding
- Australian Research Council [DE140101077, DP140104394]
- National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia [APP1090507]
- NARSAD Brain and Behavior Research Foundation [17537]
- Australian Research Council [DE140101077] Funding Source: Australian Research Council
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Background: Schizophrenia patients with auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) have reduced structural integrity in the left arcuate fasciculus (AFL) compared to healthy controls. However, it is neither known whether these changes are specific to AVH, as opposed to hallucinations or schizophrenia per se, nor how radial and/or axial diffusivity are altered. This study aimed to test the hypothesis that reductions to the structural integrity of the AFL are specifically associated with AVH in schizophrenia. Method: Diffusion tensor imaging scans and clinical data were obtained from the Australian Schizophrenia Research Bank for 39 schizophrenia patients with lifetime AVH (18 current, 21 remitted), 74 schizophrenia patients with no lifetime AVH (40 with lifetime hallucinations in other modalities, 34 no lifetime hallucinations) and 40 healthy controls. Results: Fractional anisotropy was significantly reduced in the AFL of patients with life time AVH compared to both healthy controls (Cohen's d=1.24) and patients without life time AVH (d=.72), including compared to the specific subsets of patientswithout AVH who either had hallucinations in other modalities (d=.69) or no history of any hallucinations (d=.73). Radial, but not axial, diffusivity was significantly increased in patientswith lifetime AVH compared to both healthy controls (d=.89) and patients without lifetime AVH (d=.39). Evidence was found for a non-linear relation between fractional anisotropy in the AFL and state AVH. Conclusion: Reduced integrity of the AFL is specifically associated with AVH, as opposed to schizophrenia in general or hallucinations in other modalities. Increased radial diffusivity suggests dysmyelination or demyelination of the AFL may play a role in AVH. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available