Age and diffusion tensor anisotropy in adolescent and adult patients with schizophrenia.
Findings of white matter pathology as indicated by diffusion tensor anisotropy values in schizophrenia are well established, but the differences in this measure between the onset of the disease and the chronic state are not well known. To investigate the differences between these states in the progression of the disease of schizophrenia we acquired 1.5 T diffusion tensor anisotropy images on 35 adult patients with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder, 23 adolescents having their first psychotic episode, and age and sex matched controls (33 adults and 15 adolescents). Regions of interest in major cortical white matter tracts chosen as salient to the prefrontal executive deficit in schizophrenia were assessed using stereotaxic coordinates from the Talairach and Tournoux atlas. Regions of each tract along anterior-posterior and/or inferior-superior directions in both hemispheres were evaluated in multiway ANOVA. Tracts between the frontal lobe and other brain regions, but not temporal, occipital and interhemispheric tracts, showed a differential aging pattern in normals and patients indicating that the white matter pathology in these regions is not stable between the onset and the chronic state in schizophrenia. This suggests that tracts involved in the connectivity of the temporal lobe white matter deficits were already well in place in adolescent patients, while frontal lobe pathology continues to develop from adolescence to adulthood.
Schneiderman
Jason S
JS
Department of Psychiatry, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, NY, USA. jason@bwh.harvard.edu
Buchsbaum
Monte S
MS
Haznedar
M Mehmet
MM
Hazlett
Erin A
EA
Brickman
Adam M
AM
Shihabuddin
Lina
L
Brand
Jesse G
JG
Torosjan
Yuliya
Y
Newmark
Randall E
RE
Canfield
Emily L
EL
Tang
Cheuk
C
Aronowitz
Jonathan
J
Paul-Odouard
Reshmi
R
Hof
Patrick R
PR
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017668:Age of Onset; D016880:Anisotropy; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; D008297:Male; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000473:pathology*