title: Comparing fractional anisotropy in patients with childhood-onset schizophrenia, their healthy siblings, and normal volunteers through DTI.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Diffusion tensor imaging is a neuroimaging method that quantifies white matter (WM) integrity and brain connectivity based on the diffusion of water in the brain. White matter has been hypothesized to be of great importance in the development of schizophrenia as part of the dysconnectivity model. Childhood-onset schizophrenia (COS), is a rare, severe form of the illness that resembles poor outcome adult-onset schizophrenia. We hypothesized that COS would be associated with WM abnormalities relative to a sample of controls.
  
  
  METHODS
  To evaluate WM integrity in this population 39 patients diagnosed with COS, 39 of their healthy (nonpsychotic) siblings, and 50 unrelated healthy volunteers were scanned using a diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) sequence during a 1.5 T MRI acquisition. Each DTI scan was processed via atlas-based analysis using a WM parcellation map, and diffeomorphic mapping that shapes a template atlas to each individual subject space. Fractional anisotropy (FA), a measure of WM integrity was averaged over each of the 46 regions of the atlas. Eleven WM regions were examined based on previous reports of WM growth abnormalities in COS.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of those regions, patients with COS, and their healthy siblings had significantly lower mean FA in the left and right cuneus as compared to the healthy volunteers (P < .005). Together, these findings represent the largest DTI study in COS to date, and provide evidence that WM integrity is significantly impaired in COS. Shared deficits in their healthy siblings might result from increased genetic risk.
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD;
authors.forename: Marcel E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Moran
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD;
authors.forename: Zoe I
authors.initials: ZI
authors.lastname: Luscher
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD;
authors.forename: Harrison
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: McAdams
authors.affiliation: The Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD.
authors.forename: John T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD;
authors.forename: Deanna
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Greenstein
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD;
authors.forename: Liv
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Clasen
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD;
authors.forename: Katharine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ludovici
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD;
authors.forename: Jonae
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lloyd
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD;
authors.forename: Judith
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rapoport
authors.affiliation: The Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD.
authors.forename: Susumu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mori
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD; gogtayn@mail.nih.gov.
authors.forename: Nitin
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gogtay
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D016880:Anisotropy; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D056324:Diffusion Tensor Imaging; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008297:Male; D009778:Occipital Lobe / Q000473:pathology*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000473:pathology*; D035781:Siblings; D066127:White Matter / Q000473:pathology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: COS; DTI; FA; cuneus; siblings