Smoking and schizophrenia independently and additively reduce white matter integrity between striatum and frontal cortex.
BACKGROUND
Although schizophrenia patients are at high risk for tobacco use, the neurobiological basis of this comorbid association is not clear. White matter abnormalities have been described independently in schizophrenia and smoking cohorts. We sought to determine whether smoking and schizophrenia are associated with similar white matter abnormalities that could be biomarkers for the high risk of smoking in schizophrenia.


METHODS
Whole brain white matter integrity (fractional anisotropy) was measured in 46 schizophrenia patients (32 smokers and 14 nonsmokers) and 69 healthy age-matched control subjects (48 smokers and 21 nonsmokers).


RESULTS
Schizophrenia and smoking status were independently and additively associated with reduced fractional anisotropy in left anterior thalamic radiation/anterior limb of the internal capsule, and significant fractional anisotropy decreases were identified in the bilateral uncinate fasciculus/inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus in schizophrenia and the left prefrontal area in smoking status separately.


CONCLUSIONS
Common and distinct patterns of impaired white matter are associated with schizophrenia and smoking. Particularly, the anatomic congruence of an additive white matter abnormality in the anterior thalamic radiation/anterior limb of the internal capsule suggests that this abnormal fiber connectivity between frontal cortex and striatum/thalamus may be a biomarker for the increased comorbid smoking in schizophrenia patients.
Zhang
Xiaochu
X
Neuroimaging Research Branch, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, Maryland 21228, USA.
Stein
Elliot A
EA
Hong
L Elliot
LE
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016880:Anisotropy; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000473:pathology*; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009413:Nerve Fibers, Myelinated / Q000473:pathology*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000473:pathology*; D012907:Smoking / Q000473:pathology*