Podwalski Piotr, Tyburski Ernest, Szczygieł Krzysztof, Rudkowski Krzysztof, Waszczuk Katarzyna, Andrusewicz Wojciech, Kucharska-Mazur Jolanta, Michalczyk Anna, Mak Monika, Cyranka Katarzyna, Misiak Błażej, Sagan Leszek, Samochowiec Jerzy
Department of Psychiatry, Pomeranian Medical University, 71-460 Szczecin, Poland.
Department of Health Psychology, Pomeranian Medical University, 71-460 Szczecin, Poland.
Brain Sci. 2022 Feb 14;12(2):267. doi: 10.3390/brainsci12020267.
The superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF) is a white matter bundle that connects the frontal areas with the parietal areas. As part of the visuospatial attentional network, it may be involved in the development of schizophrenia. Deficit syndrome (DS) is characterized by primary and enduring negative symptoms. The present study assessed SLF integrity in DS and nondeficit schizophrenia (NDS) patients and examined possible relationships between it and psychopathology. Twenty-six DS patients, 42 NDS patients, and 36 healthy controls (HC) underwent psychiatric evaluation and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). After post-processing, fractional anisotropy (FA) values within the SLF were analyzed. Psychopathology was assessed with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale, Brief Negative Symptom Scale, and Self-evaluation of Negative Symptoms. The PANSS proxy for the deficit syndrome was used to diagnose DS. NDS patients had lower FA values than HC. DS patients had greater negative symptoms than NDS patients. After differentiating clinical groups and HC, we found no significant correlations between DTI measures and psychopathological dimensions. These results suggest that changes in SLF integrity are related to schizophrenia, and frontoparietal dysconnection plays a role in its etiopathogenesis. We confirmed that DS patients have greater negative psychopathology than NDS patients. These results are preliminary; further studies are needed.
上纵束（SLF）是连接额叶区域和顶叶区域的白质束。作为视觉空间注意力网络的一部分，它可能参与精神分裂症的发生发展。缺陷综合征（DS）的特征是原发性和持续性阴性症状。本研究评估了DS患者和非缺陷型精神分裂症（NDS）患者的SLF完整性，并检查了其与精神病理学之间的可能关系。26名DS患者、42名NDS患者和36名健康对照者（HC）接受了精神评估和弥散张量成像（DTI）。后处理后，分析了SLF内的分数各向异性（FA）值。使用阳性和阴性症状量表、简短阴性症状量表和阴性症状自评来评估精神病理学。用缺陷综合征的PANSS替代指标来诊断DS。NDS患者的FA值低于HC。DS患者的阴性症状比NDS患者更严重。区分临床组和HC后，我们发现DTI测量值与精神病理学维度之间无显著相关性。这些结果表明，SLF完整性的变化与精神分裂症有关，额顶叶连接障碍在其病因发病机制中起作用。我们证实DS患者的阴性精神病理学比NDS患者更严重。这些结果是初步的；需要进一步研究。
