title: Reduced structural integrity and functional lateralization of the dorsal language pathway correlate with hallucinations in schizophrenia: a combined diffusion spectrum imaging and functional magnetic resonance imaging study.
abstract: Recent studies suggest that structural and functional alterations of the language network are associated with auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) in schizophrenia. However, the ways in which the underlying structure and function of the network are altered and how these alterations are related to each other remain unclear. To elucidate this, we used diffusion spectrum imaging (DSI) to reconstruct the dorsal and ventral pathways and employed functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in a semantic task to obtain information about the functional activation in the corresponding regions in 18 patients with schizophrenia and 18 matched controls. The results demonstrated decreased structural integrity in the left ventral, right ventral and right dorsal tracts, and decreased functional lateralization of the dorsal pathway in schizophrenia. There was a positive correlation between the microstructural integrity of the right dorsal pathway and the functional lateralization of the dorsal pathway in patients with schizophrenia. Additionally, both functional lateralization of the dorsal pathway and microstructural integrity of the right dorsal pathway were negatively correlated with the scores of the delusion/hallucination symptom dimension. Our results suggest that impaired structural integrity of the right dorsal pathway is related to the reduction of functional lateralization of the dorsal pathway, and these alterations may aggravate AVHs in schizophrenia.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biomedical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan; Center for Optoelectronic Biomedicine, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chen-Hao
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan; Graduate Institute of Brain and Mind Sciences, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Tzung-Jeng
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Hwang
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Pin-Jane
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Brain and Mind Sciences, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan. Electronic address: tlchou25@ntu.edu.tw.
authors.forename: Tai-Li
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Chou
authors.affiliation: Center for Optoelectronic Biomedicine, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yung-Chin
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan; Graduate Institute of Brain and Mind Sciences, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chih-Min
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Center for Optoelectronic Biomedicine, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Hsiao-Lan
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biomedical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chung-Ming
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Mau-Sun
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Hua
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan; Graduate Institute of Brain and Mind Sciences, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Hai-Gwo
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Hwu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biomedical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan; Center for Optoelectronic Biomedicine, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan; Graduate Institute of Brain and Mind Sciences, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Medical Imaging, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan. Electronic address: wytseng@ntu.edu.tw.
authors.forename: Wen-Yih Isaac
authors.initials: WY
authors.lastname: Tseng
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D054022:Cerebrum / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D059907:Functional Neuroimaging / Q000379:methods; D006212:Hallucinations / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology
keywords: Auditory verbal hallucinations; Diffusion spectrum imaging; Functional MRI; Language network; Schizophrenia