Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, World Class University Program, College of Natural Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Psychiatry Res. 2012 Nov 30;204(2-3):82-90. doi: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2012.09.012.
The anterior limb of the internal capsule (ALIC), which interconnects with the frontal cortex and thalamus, is volumetrically altered in schizophrenia patients. However, it is unclear whether an abnormal ALIC volume is apparent prior to the onset of schizophrenia and whether this aberrant ALIC volume is related to the frontal gray matter in individuals at ultra-high risk (UHR) for psychosis. We used magnetic resonance imaging of 43 UHR subjects, 36 schizophrenia patients, and 42 healthy controls to investigate manually traced ALIC volumes. Additionally, we evaluated the correlation between the ALIC volume and the frontal gray matter. Significantly reduced ALIC volumes were observed in the UHR and schizophrenia groups compared to the healthy controls. However, the volume of the frontal gray matter was decreased only in the schizophrenia group. A positive correlation between the volumes in the ALIC and frontal gray matter found in healthy controls was maintained only in UHR subjects. In addition, a negative correlation between the total scores on the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale and the ALIC volumes was observed only in schizophrenia patients. An aberrant ALIC volume but its maintained correlation with the interconnecting frontal lobe was present prior to the onset of full psychosis, indicating the prodromal phase of psychosis.
内囊前肢（ALIC）与额叶皮层和丘脑相互连接，在精神分裂症患者中其体积发生了变化。然而，目前尚不清楚在精神分裂症发病前是否存在异常的 ALIC 体积，以及这种异常的 ALIC 体积是否与处于精神病超高风险（UHR）的个体的额叶灰质有关。我们使用磁共振成像技术对 43 名 UHR 受试者、36 名精神分裂症患者和 42 名健康对照者进行了研究，对手动追踪的 ALIC 体积进行了研究。此外，我们还评估了 ALIC 体积与额叶灰质之间的相关性。与健康对照组相比，UHR 组和精神分裂症组的 ALIC 体积明显减小。然而，只有精神分裂症组的额叶灰质体积减少。在健康对照组中，ALIC 和额叶灰质之间的体积存在正相关，这种相关性在 UHR 组中得以维持。此外，在精神分裂症患者中，仅观察到阳性和阴性症状量表的总分与 ALIC 体积之间存在负相关。在完全精神病发作之前，就存在异常的 ALIC 体积，但与连接的额叶之间存在维持的相关性，这表明存在精神病的前驱期。
