title: White matter alterations in first episode treatment-naïve patients with deficit schizophrenia: a combined VBM and DTI study.
abstract: Categorizing 'deficit schizophrenia' (DS) as distinct from 'non-deficit' schizophrenia (NDS) may help reduce heterogeneity within schizophrenia. However, it is unknown if DS has a discrete white matter signature. Here we used MRI to compare white matter volume (voxel-based morphometry) and microstructural integrity (fractional anisotropy, FA) in first-episode treatment-naïve patients with DS and NDS and their unaffected relatives to control groups of similar age. We found that white matter disruption was prominent in DS compared to controls; the DS group had lower volumes in the cerebellum, bilateral extra-nuclear and bilateral frontoparietal regions, and lower FA in the body of corpus callosum, posterior superior longitudinal fasciculus and uncinate fasciculus. The DS group also had lower volume in bilateral extra-nuclear regions compared to NDS, and the volume of these clusters was negatively correlated with deficit symptom ratings. NDS patients however, had no significant volume alterations and limited disruption of microstructural integrity compared to controls. Finally, first-degree relatives of those with DS shared volume abnormalities in right extra-nuclear white matter. Thus, white matter pathology in schizophrenia is most evident in the deficit condition, and lower extra-nuclear white matter volumes in both DS patients and their relatives may represent a brain structural 'endophenotype' for DS.
authors.affiliation: The Mental Health Center &Psychiatric Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Lei
authors.affiliation: The Mental Health Center &Psychiatric Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, China.
authors.forename: Na
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: The Mental Health Center &Psychiatric Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.affiliation: The Mental Health Center &Psychiatric Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, China.
authors.forename: Mingli
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: The Mental Health Center &Psychiatric Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, China.
authors.forename: Chaohua
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: The Mental Health Center &Psychiatric Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, China.
authors.forename: Xiaohong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: The Mental Health Center &Psychiatric Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, China.
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: The Mental Health Center &Psychiatric Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, China.
authors.forename: Wanjun
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: The Mental Health Center &Psychiatric Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, China.
authors.forename: Yinfei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: The Mental Health Center &Psychiatric Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, China.
authors.forename: Lijun
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Hospital of Chengdu Office of People's Government of Tibetan autonomous Region, Branch Hospital of West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, China.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Huaxi Biobank, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, China.
authors.forename: Xun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College, London, UK.
authors.forename: Grainne Mary
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: McAlonan
authors.affiliation: The Mental Health Center &Psychiatric Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, China.
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001479:Basal Ganglia / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000502:physiology; D001931:Brain Mapping; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000502:physiology; D003710:Demography; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011859:Radiography; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000473:pathology*; D066127:White Matter / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult