title: The structural connectivity pathology of first-episode schizophrenia based on the cardinal symptom of auditory verbal hallucinations.
abstract: Heterogeneous findings across studies of structural abnormality in schizophrenia (SZ) have impeded the development a unified theory of white matter pathology. As a cardinal symptom of SZ, auditory verbal hallucination (AVH) has been suspected to be associated with improper communication among several brain regions, which might indicated white matter pathology. Participants comprised 25 first-episode (FE) patients with AVH, 25 patients without AVH and 25 healthy subjects. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) measures were calculated using the TBSS of FSL. Voxel-based ANOVA tests were performed among the three groups and threshold-free cluster enhancement (TFCE) method correction was used for multiple comparisons. Voxel-based one-way ANOVA showed significant group effects for fractional anisotropy (FA) and radial diffusivity (RD) values. Post-hoc t-tests indicated that schizophrenia patients had lower FA and higher RD values in the internal capsule and anterior corona radiata than control subjects. Post-hoc analyses exhibited more widespread fiber disruptions in AVH patients than non-AVH patients. These results hinted on the important role of projection fiber disruption in schizophrenia patients. In addition, the current study also suggested that direct comparison between studies using patients with different symptom profiles should be interpreted with caution.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Xijing Hospital, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710032, China.
authors.forename: Yi-Bin
authors.initials: YB
authors.lastname: Xi
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Xijing Hospital, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710032, China.
authors.forename: Fan
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, The Second Hospital, Yulin, Shaanxi, China.
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Psychology, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710032, China.
authors.forename: Xiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Life Sciences Research Center, School of Life Sciences and Technology, Xidian University, Xi'an, China.
authors.forename: Jin-Bo
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Life Sciences Research Center, School of Life Sciences and Technology, Xidian University, Xi'an, China.
authors.forename: Yuan-Qiang
authors.initials: YQ
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Xijing Hospital, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710032, China.
authors.forename: Wen-Ming
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Xijing Hospital, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710032, China.
authors.forename: Long-Biao
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Xijing Hospital, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710032, China.
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Xijing Hospital, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710032, China. Electronic address: xskzhu@fmmu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Hua-Ning
authors.initials: HN
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Xijing Hospital, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710032, China. Electronic address: yinhong@fmmu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yin
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016880:Anisotropy; D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D056324:Diffusion Tensor Imaging / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006212:Hallucinations / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D066127:White Matter / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Auditory verbal hallucination; Diffusion tensor imaging; First-episode; Schizophrenia