title: The extent of diffusion MRI markers of neuroinflammation and white matter deterioration in chronic schizophrenia.
abstract: In a previous study we have demonstrated, using a novel diffusion MRI analysis called free-water imaging, that the early stages of schizophrenia are more likely associated with a neuroinflammatory response and less so with a white matter deterioration or a demyelination process. What is not known is how neuroinflammation and white matter deterioration change along the progression of the disorder. In this study we apply the free-water measures on a population of 29 chronic schizophrenia subjects and compare them with 25 matching controls. Our aim was to compare the extent of free-water imaging abnormalities in chronic subjects with the ones previously obtained for subjects at their first psychotic episode. We find that chronic subjects showed a limited extent of abnormal increase in the volume of the extracellular space, suggesting a less extensive neuroinflammatory response relative to patients at the onset of schizophrenia. At the same time, the chronic schizophrenia subjects had greater extent of reduced fractional anisotropy compared to the previous study, suggesting increased white matter deterioration along the progression of the disease. Our findings substantiate the role of neuroinflammation in the earlier stages of the disorder, and the effect of neurodegeneration that is worsening in the chronic phase.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston 02215, MA, USA; Department of Radiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston 02215, MA, USA. Electronic address: ofer@bwh.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: Ofer
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Pasternak
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston 02215, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Carl-Fredrik
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Westin
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston 02215, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Dahlben
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston 02215, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Sylvain
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bouix
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston 02215, MA, USA; Department of Radiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston 02215, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Marek
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kubicki
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016880:Anisotropy; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002908:Chronic Disease; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D004660:Encephalitis / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology*; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D066127:White Matter / Q000473:pathology*
keywords: Degeneration; Free-water; Neuroinflammation; Schizophrenia; White matter