title: Assessment of white matter abnormalities in paranoid schizophrenia and bipolar mania patients.
abstract: White matter abnormalities have been repeatedly reported in both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder (BD) in diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) studies, but the empirical evidence about the diagnostic specificity of white matter abnormalities in these disorders is still limited. This study sought to investigate the alterations in fractional anisotropy (FA) in white matter throughout the entire brain of patients from Chengdu, China with paranoid schizophrenia and bipolar mania. For this purpose, DTI was used to assess white matter integrity in patients with paranoid schizophrenia (n=25) and psychotic bipolar mania (n=18) who had been treated with standard pharmacotherapy for fewer than 5 days at the time of study, as well as in normal controls (n=30). The differences in FA were measured by use of voxel-based analysis. The results show that reduced FA was found in the left posterior corona radiata (PCR) in patients with psychotic bipolar mania and paranoid schizophrenia compared to the controls. Patients with psychotic bipolar mania also showed a significant reduction in FA in right posterior corona radiata and in right anterior thalamic radiation (ATR). A direct comparison between the two patient groups found no significant differences in any regions, and none of the findings were associated with illness duration. Correlation analysis indicated that FA values showed a significant negative correlation with positive symptom scores on the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale in the left frontal-parietal lobe in the paranoid schizophrenia. It was concluded that common abnormalities in the left PCR might imply an overlap in white matter pathology in the two disorders and might be related to shared risk factors for the two disorders.
authors.affiliation: The Department of Psychiatry & Psychiatric Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China; The Department of Psychiatry,The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical College, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Liqian
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.affiliation: The Department of Psychiatry & Psychiatric Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China.
authors.forename: Zhuangfei
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: The Department of Psychiatry & Psychiatric Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.affiliation: MRI center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China.
authors.forename: Xiaoqi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: The Department of Psychiatry & Psychiatric Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China.
authors.forename: Mingli
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: The Department of Psychiatry & Psychiatric Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China.
authors.forename: Xiaohong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: The Department of Psychiatry & Psychiatric Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China.
authors.forename: Chaohua
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: The Department of Psychiatry & Psychiatric Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China.
authors.forename: Lijun
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: The Department of Psychiatry & Psychiatric Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China.
authors.forename: Yingcheng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: The Department of Psychiatry & Psychiatric Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China.
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: King's College London, MRC Social Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK.
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Collier
authors.affiliation: MRI center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China.
authors.forename: Qiyong
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Gong
authors.affiliation: The Department of Psychiatry & Psychiatric Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China; King's College London, Department of Psychiatry and Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK; King's College London, MRC Social Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK. Electronic address: xuntao26@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016880:Anisotropy; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000473:pathology*; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009413:Nerve Fibers, Myelinated / Q000473:pathology*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012563:Schizophrenia, Paranoid / Q000473:pathology*; D055815:Young Adult