Structural disruption of the dorsal cingulum bundle is associated with impaired Stroop performance in patients with schizophrenia.
Previous diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) studies have shown structural abnormalities of the cingulum bundle (CB) in patients with schizophrenia. However, regional specificity and functional relevance of the pregenual and dorsal CB subdivisions has not been fully studied. In the current study, 31 patients with schizophrenia and 65 age- and gender-matched healthy subjects underwent DTI to measure fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) in cross sections of dorsal and pregenual CB tractography. To test the hypothesis of region-specific association with neurocognition, all of the patients and 31 controls performed the Stroop task, which is assumed to mainly involve dorsal cingulate function. The verbal memory subscale of Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised and premorbid IQs estimated from the Japanese version of the National Adult Reading Test, which were non-specific to dorsal cingulate function, were also employed as control neurocognitive indices. Significant bilateral FA reductions in the pregenual and dorsal CB, and bilateral MD increases in the dorsal CB were observed in the patients compared with the controls. As predicted, significant associations between DTI measures and neurocognition were found in the schizophrenia group only: double-dissociable correlation between higher MD in the dorsal, not in the pregenual CB, and a longer reaction time in the Stroop task, not verbal memory or premorbid IQs. The current DTI study suggests that structural disruption of the dorsal CB has region-specific functional relevance to selective attention deficits, although structural disruption also exists in the pregenual CB in patients with schizophrenia.
Takei
Kunio
K
Department of Neuropsychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8655, Japan. takeik-tky@umin.ac.jp
Yamasue
Hidenori
H
Abe
Osamu
O
Yamada
Haruyasu
H
Inoue
Hideyuki
H
Suga
Motomu
M
Muroi
Miya
M
Sasaki
Hiroki
H
Aoki
Shigeki
S
Kasai
Kiyoto
K
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016880:Anisotropy; D001931:Brain Mapping; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology*; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007361:Intelligence Tests; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011930:Reaction Time; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014796:Visual Perception; D055815:Young Adult