Hirjak Dusan, Thomann Philipp A, Wolf Robert C, Kubera Katharina M, Goch Caspar, Hering Jan, Maier-Hein Klaus H
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Mannheim, Germany.
Center for Psychosocial Medicine, Department of General Psychiatry, University of Heidelberg, Germany.
Hum Brain Mapp. 2017 Jul;38(7):3552-3565. doi: 10.1002/hbm.23609. Epub 2017 Apr 21.
Neurological soft signs (NSS) are core features of psychiatric disorders with significant neurodevelopmental origin. However, it is unclear whether NSS correlates are associated with neuropathological processes underlying the disease or if they are confounded by medication. Given that NSS are also present in healthy persons (HP), investigating HP could reveal NSS correlates, which are not biased by disease-specific processes or drug treatment. Therefore, we used a combination of diffusion MRI analysis tools to provide a framework of specific white matter (WM) microstructure variations underlying NSS in HP.
NSS of 59 HP were examined on the Heidelberg Scale and related to diffusion associated metrics. Using tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS), we studied WM variations in fractional anisotropy (FA) as well as radial (RD), axial (AD), and mean diffusivity (MD). Using graph analytics (clustering coefficient-CC, local betweenness centrality -BC), we then explored DTI-derived structural network variations in regions identified by previous MRI studies on NSS.
NSS scores were negatively associated with RD, AD and MD in corpus callosum, brainstem and cerebellum (P < 0.05, corr.). NSS scores were negatively associated with CC and BC of the pallidum, the superior parietal gyrus, the precentral sulcus, the insula, and the cingulate gyrus (P < 0.05, uncorr.).
The present study supports the notion that WM microstructure variations in subcortical and cortical sensorimotor regions contribute to NSS expression in young HP. Hum Brain Mapp 38:3552-3565, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
神经软体征（NSS）是具有显著神经发育起源的精神疾病的核心特征。然而，尚不清楚NSS相关指标是与该疾病潜在的神经病理过程相关，还是受到药物治疗的混淆影响。鉴于NSS也存在于健康人（HP）中，对HP进行研究可能会揭示不受疾病特异性过程或药物治疗影响的NSS相关指标。因此，我们使用了多种扩散磁共振成像（MRI）分析工具，以提供一个关于HP中NSS潜在的特定白质（WM）微观结构变化的框架。
在海德堡量表上对59名HP的NSS进行检查，并将其与扩散相关指标相关联。使用基于纤维束的空间统计学（TBSS），我们研究了分数各向异性（FA）以及径向扩散率（RD）、轴向扩散率（AD）和平均扩散率（MD）的WM变化。然后，使用图谱分析（聚类系数-CC、局部中介中心性-BC），我们在先前关于NSS的MRI研究确定的区域中探索了基于扩散张量成像（DTI）的结构网络变化。
NSS评分与胼胝体、脑干和小脑中的RD、AD和MD呈负相关（P < 0.05，校正）。NSS评分与苍白球、顶上叶、中央前沟、脑岛和扣带回的CC和BC呈负相关（P < 0.05，未校正）。
本研究支持以下观点，即皮质下和皮质感觉运动区域的WM微观结构变化有助于年轻HP中NSS的表达。《人类大脑图谱》38:3552 - 3565，2017年。© 2017威利期刊公司。
