Sasamoto Akihiko, Miyata Jun, Kubota Manabu, Hirao Kazuyuki, Kawada Ryosaku, Fujimoto Shinsuke, Tanaka Yusuke, Hazama Masaaki, Sugihara Genichi, Sawamoto Nobukatsu, Fukuyama Hidenao, Takahashi Hidehiko, Murai Toshiya
*To whom correspondence should be addressed; 54 Shogoin-Kawahara-cho, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan; tel: +81 75 751 3386, fax: +81 75 751 3246, e-mail:
Schizophr Bull. 2014 Mar;40(2):420-7. doi: 10.1093/schbul/sbt030. Epub 2013 Mar 5.
Previous neuroimaging studies have revealed that both gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) are altered in several morphological aspects in schizophrenia patients. Although several studies reported associations between GM and WM alterations in restricted regions, the existence of a global association between GM and WM pathologies is unknown. Considering the wide distribution of GM morphological changes and the profound genetic background of WM abnormalities, it would be natural to postulate a global association between pathologies of GM and WM in schizophrenia. In this investigation, we studied 35 schizophrenia patients and 35 healthy control subjects using T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and investigated the association between GM thickness and WM fractional anisotropy (FA) as a proxy of pathology in each tissue. To investigate cortical thickness, surface-based analysis was used. The mean cortical thickness for the whole brain was computed for each hemisphere, and group comparisons were performed. For DTI data, mean FA for the whole brain was calculated, and group comparisons were performed. Subsequently, the correlation between mean cortical thickness and mean FA was investigated. Results showed that the mean cortical thickness was significantly thinner, and the mean FA was significantly lower in schizophrenia patients. Only in the patient group the mean cortical thickness and mean FA showed significant positive correlations in both hemispheres. This correlation remained significant even after controlling for demographic and clinical variables. Thus, our results indicate that the GM and WM pathologies of schizophrenia are intertwined at the global level.
先前的神经影像学研究表明，精神分裂症患者的灰质（GM）和白质（WM）在多个形态学方面均发生了改变。尽管有几项研究报告了特定区域内GM和WM改变之间的关联，但GM和WM病变之间是否存在整体关联尚不清楚。考虑到GM形态学变化的广泛分布以及WM异常的深厚遗传背景，推测精神分裂症中GM和WM病变之间存在整体关联是很自然的。在这项研究中，我们使用T1加权磁共振成像和扩散张量成像（DTI）对35名精神分裂症患者和35名健康对照者进行了研究，并调查了GM厚度与WM分数各向异性（FA）之间的关联，以此作为各组织病变的指标。为了研究皮质厚度，我们采用了基于表面的分析方法。计算每个半球全脑的平均皮质厚度，并进行组间比较。对于DTI数据，计算全脑的平均FA，并进行组间比较。随后，研究平均皮质厚度与平均FA之间的相关性。结果显示，精神分裂症患者的平均皮质厚度显著变薄，平均FA显著降低。仅在患者组中，两个半球的平均皮质厚度和平均FA均呈现出显著的正相关。即使在控制了人口统计学和临床变量之后，这种相关性仍然显著。因此，我们的结果表明，精神分裂症的GM和WM病变在整体水平上相互交织。
