Characterization of brain plasticity in schizophrenia using template deformation.
OBJECTIVE
Abnormal neurodevelopment may play a role in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. We used deformation-based morphometry to examine voxel-wise age-related changes in patients with schizophrenia compared with healthy brains.


METHODS
We used a set of skull-stripped brains from an image database of cranial magnetic resonance images. We then deformed a template brain to the rest of the brains creating a set of deformation fields. Using the Jacobian values of these deformation fields, we calculated the voxel-wise t-score for comparison of controls with patients. We also calculated the voxel-wise Pearson correlation of Jacobian with age for both controls and patients.


RESULTS
By examining the volume renderings of these statistical fields, we found that healthy people undergo age-related expansion of the ventricles, the surrounding periventricular white matter, and a corresponding decline in the frontal lobes and cingulate gyrus. In contrast, patients show much less of this age-related expansion of the ventricles and less atrophy in the cerebral cortex. In addition, patients have larger ventricles and reduced volume in the frontal/parietal lobes.


CONCLUSIONS
These constellations of findings suggest that otherwise normal age-related ventricular enlargement and cortical loss occurs in schizophrenia patients, albeit at an earlier age.
Dubb
Abraham
A
Department of Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. adubb@grasp.cis.upenn.edu
Xie
Zhiyong
Z
Gur
Ruben
R
Gur
Raquel
R
Gee
James
J
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000465:Algorithms; D001284:Atrophy; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology; D002552:Cerebral Ventricles / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology*; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D020542:Third Ventricle / Q000503:physiopathology