Tabata Koichi, Son Shuraku, Miyata Jun, Toriumi Kazuya, Miyashita Mitsuhiro, Suzuki Kazuhiro, Itokawa Masanari, Takahashi Hidehiko, Murai Toshiya, Arai Makoto
Schizophrenia Research Project, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science, Tokyo, Japan.
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan.
Schizophrenia (Heidelb). 2024 Mar 20;10(1):39. doi: 10.1038/s41537-024-00458-0.
Several studies have shown white matter (WM) dysconnectivity in people with schizophrenia (SZ). However, the underlying mechanism remains unclear. We investigated the relationship between plasma homocysteine (Hcy) levels and WM microstructure in people with SZ using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Fifty-three people with SZ and 83 healthy controls (HC) were included in this retrospective observational study. Tract-Based Spatial Statistics (TBSS) were used to evaluate group differences in WM microstructure. A significant negative correlation between plasma Hcy levels and WM microstructural disruption was noted in the SZ group (Spearman's ρ = -.330, P = 0.016) but not in the HC group (Spearman's ρ = .041, P = 0.712). These results suggest that increased Hcy may be associated with WM dysconnectivity in SZ, and the interaction between Hcy and WM dysconnectivity could be a potential mechanism of the pathophysiology of SZ. Further, longitudinal studies are required to investigate whether high Hcy levels subsequently cause WM microstructural disruption in people with SZ.
多项研究表明，精神分裂症（SZ）患者存在白质（WM）连接障碍。然而，其潜在机制仍不清楚。我们使用扩散张量成像（DTI）研究了SZ患者血浆同型半胱氨酸（Hcy）水平与WM微观结构之间的关系。这项回顾性观察研究纳入了53名SZ患者和83名健康对照（HC）。基于纤维束的空间统计学（TBSS）用于评估WM微观结构的组间差异。在SZ组中，血浆Hcy水平与WM微观结构破坏之间存在显著负相关（斯皮尔曼ρ=-0.330，P=0.016），而在HC组中未观察到这种相关性（斯皮尔曼ρ=0.041，P=0.712）。这些结果表明，Hcy升高可能与SZ患者的WM连接障碍有关，Hcy与WM连接障碍之间的相互作用可能是SZ病理生理学的潜在机制。此外，需要进行纵向研究以调查高Hcy水平是否随后会导致SZ患者的WM微观结构破坏。
