title: Investigating connectivity between the cerebellum and thalamus in schizophrenia using diffusion tensor tractography: a pilot study.
abstract: Connections of the cortical-thalamic-cerebellar-cortical regions provide a framework for studying the neural substrates of schizophrenia. A novel diffusion tensor tractography method was used to evaluate the differences in white matter connectivity between 12 patients with schizophrenia and 10 controls. For the tract tracing, we focused on the connection between the cerebellum and the thalamus. Fractional anisotropy (FA) measures along the fiber tracks were compared between patients and the control sample. Fiber tracts located between the cerebellar white matter and the thalamus exhibit a reduced FA in patients with schizophrenia in comparison with controls. The FA values along the defined fiber tracts were not overall reduced but exhibited a reduction in the anisotropy in the region in the superior cerebellar peduncles projecting towards the red nucleus.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, The University of Iowa, Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA. vincent-magnotta@uiowa.edu
authors.forename: Vincent A
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: Magnotta
authors.forename: Michael L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Adix
authors.forename: Arvind
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Caprahan
authors.forename: Kelvin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.forename: Randy
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gollub
authors.forename: Nancy C
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Andreasen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016880:Anisotropy; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000503:physiopathology*; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000503:physiopathology*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013788:Thalamus / Q000503:physiopathology*