Journal
NEUROIMAGE
Volume 55, Issue 4, Pages 1657-1664Publisher
ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.01.047
Keywords
Diffusion tensor imaging; Schizophrenia; Stochastic tractography; Language network; Inferior frontal gyrus; Fractional anisotropy
Funding
- National Institute of Health [K05 MH070047, R01 MH 50740, R01 MH 40799, R01 MH 082918, R01MH 074794, P50MH 080272]
- Department of Veterans Affairs Merit Awards
- Schizophrenia Center Grant
- Department of Veterans Affairs
- National Institutes of Health through the NIH Roadmap for Medical Research [U54 EB005149]
- NIH [P41 RR013218]
- Boston University Alzheimer's Disease Core Center [K23-MH073416]
- Center for Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology
- National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia [NHMRC 520627]
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Background: Abnormalities within language-related anatomical structures have been associated with clinical symptoms and with language and memory deficits in schizophrenia. Recent studies suggest disruptions in functional connectivity within the Inferior Frontal Cyrus (IFG) network in schizophrenia. However, due to technical challenges, anatomical connectivity abnormalities within this network and their involvement in clinical and cognitive deficits have not been studied. Material and methods: Diffusion and anatomical scans were obtained from 23 chronic schizophrenia patients and 23 matched controls. The IFG was automatically segmented, and its white matter connections extracted and measured with newly-developed stochastic tractography tools. Correlations between anatomical structures and measures of semantic processing were also performed. Results: White Matter connections between the IFG and posterior brain regions followed two distinct pathways: dorsal and ventral. Both demonstrated left lateralization, but ventral pathway abnormalities were only found in schizophrenia. IFG volumes also showed left lateralization and abnormalities in schizophrenia. Further, despite similar laterality and abnormality patterns. IFG volumes and white matter connectivity were not correlated with each other in either group. Interestingly, measures of semantic processing correlated with white matter connectivity in schizophrenia and with gray matter volumes in controls. Finally, hallucinations were best predicted by both gray matter and white matter measures together. Conclusions: Our results suggest abnormalities within the ventral IFG network in schizophrenia, with white matter abnormalities better predicting semantic deficits. The lack of a statistical relationship between coexisting gray and white matter deficits might suggest their different origin and the necessity for a multimodal approach in future schizophrenia studies. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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