Department of Neuroradiology, Charité Campus Mitte, 10117 Berlin, Germany.
Schizophr Res. 2012 May;137(1-3):85-90. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2012.01.020. Epub 2012 Feb 27.
Neuroimaging studies have suggested gray (GM) and white matter (WM) abnormalities in early stages of schizophrenia. We aimed at evaluating subtle parenchymal alterations in individuals at ultra-high risk (UHR) for transition into psychosis and first-episode schizophrenic (FES) patients by measuring the magnetization transfer ratio (MTR).
In a cross-sectional study magnetization transfer images and high-resolution volumetric T1-weighted images were acquired in 70 age- and gender-matched subjects (25 UHR subjects, 16 FES patients and 29 controls) in a 1.5Tesla scanner. Following normalization of MTR-maps the intensity histograms were analyzed by performing a Kruskal-Wallis-test.
Gray matter MTR decreases were depicted in UHR subjects solely, involving the cingulate gyrus and precentral cortex. WM MTR alterations were more pronounced in FES than in UHR patients and exclusively affected the frontal lobe bilaterally. In addition, UHR subjects showed bilateral MTR decreases at the stria terminalis though statistically significant only on the left side (p=0.018.)
Our results indicate GM affection earlier on during disease progression as well as cumulative WM affection within frontal lobes during transition from UHR to FES. MTR reductions at the stria terminalis of UHR patients points to the involvement of the extended amygdala in the prodromal disease stage.
神经影像学研究表明，精神分裂症早期存在灰质（GM）和白质（WM）异常。我们旨在通过测量磁化转移率（MTR）来评估处于精神病发作前期的超高风险（UHR）个体和首发精神分裂症（FES）患者的细微实质改变。
在一项横断面研究中，在 1.5T 扫描仪中对 70 名年龄和性别匹配的受试者（25 名 UHR 受试者、16 名 FES 患者和 29 名对照者）进行了磁化转移成像和高分辨率容积 T1 加权成像。在对 MTR 图谱进行归一化后，通过进行克鲁斯卡尔-沃利斯检验分析强度直方图。
仅在 UHR 受试者中出现灰质 MTR 降低，涉及扣带回和中央前回。WM MTR 改变在 FES 患者中比在 UHR 患者中更为明显，并且仅双侧额叶受累。此外，UHR 受试者的终纹双侧 MTR 降低，尽管仅左侧有统计学意义（p=0.018）。
我们的结果表明，在从 UHR 向 FES 过渡期间，GM 受累更早，并且额叶内 WM 受累逐渐累积。UHR 患者终纹的 MTR 降低表明在前驱疾病阶段涉及扩展杏仁核。
