Saito Junichi, Katagiri Naoyuki, Tagata Hiromi, Arai Yu, Kamiya Kouhei, Hori Masaaki, Mizuno Masafumi, Nemoto Takahiro
Department of Neuropsychiatry, Toho University Faculty of Medicine, 6-11-1 Omori-nishi, Ota-ku, Tokyo 143-8541, Japan.
Department of Neuropsychiatry, Toho University Graduate School of Medicine, 5-21-16 Omori-nishi, Ota-ku, Tokyo 143-8540, Japan.
J Pers Med. 2024 Feb 21;14(3):228. doi: 10.3390/jpm14030228.
Verbal fluency is one of the most severely impaired components of cognitive function in schizophrenia and is also impaired in at-risk mental states (ARMSs) for psychosis. The aim of this study was to explore the markers of disease progression in subjects with ARMSs by comparing the association between the white matter integrity of the superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF) and verbal fluency in subjects with ARMSs and healthy control (HC) subjects. The correlations of the fractional anisotropy (FA) values on diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and the laterality index (LI) values of SLF branches I, II, and III with the verbal fluency performance were analyzed in right-handed subjects with ARMSs (ARMS group; = 18) and HC subjects (HC group; = 34) aged 18 to 40 years old. In the HC group compared with the ARMS group, the LI values suggested right lateralization of the SLF II and III. Letter fluency was significantly correlated with the LI of the SLF III in both the ARMS and HC groups. The regression coefficient (β) of this correlation was calculated using the least squares method and yielded a positive number (73.857) in the ARMS group and a negative number (-125.304) in the HC group. The association of the rightward asymmetry of the SLF III with the verbal fluency performance observed in the HC group appeared to be lost in the ARMS group, and this could serve as one of the markers of the pathological progression to psychosis in patients with schizophrenia.
言语流畅性是精神分裂症认知功能中受损最严重的成分之一，在精神病的高危精神状态（ARMSs）中也会受损。本研究的目的是通过比较ARMSs患者与健康对照（HC）组患者的上纵束（SLF）白质完整性与言语流畅性之间的关联，来探索ARMSs患者疾病进展的标志物。分析了18至40岁的右利手ARMSs患者（ARMS组；n = 18）和HC组患者（HC组；n = 34）扩散张量成像（DTI）上的分数各向异性（FA）值以及SLF分支I、II和III的偏侧指数（LI）值与言语流畅性表现的相关性。与ARMS组相比，HC组的LI值表明SLF II和III向右偏侧化。在ARMS组和HC组中，字母流畅性均与SLF III的LI显著相关。使用最小二乘法计算该相关性的回归系数（β），在ARMS组中得出正数（73.857），在HC组中得出负数（-125.304）。在HC组中观察到的SLF III向右不对称与言语流畅性表现之间的关联在ARMS组中似乎消失了，这可能是精神分裂症患者向精神病病理进展的标志物之一。
