Nader George, Safara Setare, Desmond Kimberly L, Gerretsen Philip, Graff Ariel, De Luca Vincenzo
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Toronto, ON, Canada.
Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology, University of Toronto, 1 King's College Cir, Toronto, ON, Canada.
J Neural Transm (Vienna). 2025 Jun;132(6):887-895. doi: 10.1007/s00702-025-02899-y. Epub 2025 Apr 5.
Schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD) are a complex group of illnesses, and their pathophysiology remains unclear. Recent developments in neuroimaging techniques provided useful quantitative measures, such as quantitative T1 mapping (qT1) that is susceptible to tissue-level, microscopic changes. However, it is important to identify the most sensitive, accurate, and reliable imaging protocol, given the complex nature of SSD. We compared structural brain changes in a pilot sample of 15 SSD patients and 7 healthy controls, cross-sectionally, and using two different qT1 mapping protocols. Our findings showed a global elevation in qT1 values in SSD patients, that was statistically significant in the lateral ventricles, thalamus, caudate, and hippocampus (p < 0.01). Moreover, the two acquisition protocols were differently modulated by demographic factors, such as age, sex, and education, which further illustrates the importance of protocol selection. In conclusion, this investigation revealed microstructural tissue changes in subcortical regions in SSD patients, providing further insights into the pathophysiology of the illness.
精神分裂症谱系障碍（SSD）是一组复杂的疾病，其病理生理学仍不清楚。神经成像技术的最新进展提供了有用的定量测量方法，如对组织水平微观变化敏感的定量T1映射（qT1）。然而，鉴于SSD的复杂性，确定最敏感、准确和可靠的成像方案很重要。我们对15名SSD患者和7名健康对照的试点样本进行了横断面研究，并使用两种不同的qT1映射方案比较了脑结构变化。我们的研究结果显示，SSD患者的qT1值整体升高，在侧脑室、丘脑、尾状核和海马体中具有统计学意义（p < 0.01）。此外，两种采集方案受年龄、性别和教育程度等人口统计学因素的调节方式不同，这进一步说明了方案选择的重要性。总之，这项研究揭示了SSD患者皮质下区域的微观组织变化，为该疾病的病理生理学提供了进一步的见解。
