title: Regional white matter abnormalities in drug-naive, first-episode schizophrenia patients and their healthy unaffected siblings.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Shared neuropathological features between schizophrenia patients and their siblings may represent intermediate phenotypes of schizophrenia and can be used to investigate genetic susceptibility to the illness. This study aimed to discover regional white matter abnormalities in first-episode schizophrenia (FES) patients and their unaffected siblings compared to healthy subjects in the Chinese Han population using optimized Voxel-Based Morphometry (VBM).
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 51 drug-naive, FES patients, 45 of their unaffected siblings and 59 healthy comparisons were studied with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
  
  
  RESULTS
  FES patients exhibited significant regional white matter deficits in the left inferior frontal gyrus and left joint of external capsule and internal capsule compared with healthy subjects (corrected FDR, p<0.005). The sibling group also showed significant white matter deficits in these two regions compared with the healthy comparison group (uncorrected, p<0.001). White matter deficits with a less stringent threshold for significance in the left cerebellum anterior lobe, left middle frontal gyrus, left hippocampus, right anterior cingulate and right internal capsule were observed in patients compared to their siblings.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings extend those from previous VBM analyses showing that FES patients and their unaffected siblings may share white matter deficits in the left inferior frontal gyrus and the left joint of external capsule and internal capsule. These regional white matter deficits may be related to genetic factors related to schizophrenia susceptibility.
authors.affiliation: Mental Health Institute of the Second Xiangya Hospital, Key Laboratory of Psychiatry and Mental Health of Hunan Province, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, PR China.
authors.forename: Hailong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lyu
authors.affiliation: Mental Health Center of Jiangxi Province, Nanchang, PR China.
authors.forename: Maorong
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, UC San Diego, La Jolla, USA VA San Diego Healthcare System, Psychiatric Service, La Jolla, USA.
authors.forename: Lisa T
authors.initials: LT
authors.lastname: Eyler
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, UC San Diego, La Jolla, USA VA San Diego Healthcare System, Psychiatric Service, La Jolla, USA.
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.affiliation: Mental Health Institute of the Second Xiangya Hospital, Key Laboratory of Psychiatry and Mental Health of Hunan Province, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, PR China.
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Mental Health Institute of the Second Xiangya Hospital, Key Laboratory of Psychiatry and Mental Health of Hunan Province, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, PR China.
authors.forename: Jianjun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ou
authors.affiliation: Mental Health Institute of the Second Xiangya Hospital, Key Laboratory of Psychiatry and Mental Health of Hunan Province, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, PR China.
authors.forename: Xiaofeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, the Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, PR China.
authors.forename: Zhong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Mental Health Institute of the Second Xiangya Hospital, Key Laboratory of Psychiatry and Mental Health of Hunan Province, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, PR China.
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Mental Health Institute of the Second Xiangya Hospital, Key Laboratory of Psychiatry and Mental Health of Hunan Province, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, PR China zhaojingpingcsu@163.com edsgwb@126.com.
authors.forename: Jingping
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Mental Health Center, the First Affiliated Hospital, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi, PR China.
authors.forename: Wenbin
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Guo
mesh_terms: D044466:Asian People / Q000523:psychology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D058068:Endophenotypes; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D059906:Neuroimaging; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000473:pathology*; D035781:Siblings / Q000523:psychology; D013687:Telencephalon / Q000473:pathology*; D066127:White Matter / Q000473:pathology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Endophenotype; first-episode schizophrenia; siblings; voxel based morphometry; white matter