White matter abnormalities in the fornix are linked to cognitive performance in SZ but not in BD disorder: An exploratory analysis with DTI deterministic tractography

Knöchel, Christian, Schmied, Claudia, Linden, David Edmund Johannes ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5638-9292, Stäblein, Michael, Prvulovic, David, de A. de Carvalho, Luiza, Harrison, Octavia, Barros, Paulo O., Carvalho, André F., Reif, Andreas, Alves, Gilberto S. and Oertel-Knöchel, Viola 2016. White matter abnormalities in the fornix are linked to cognitive performance in SZ but not in BD disorder: An exploratory analysis with DTI deterministic tractography. Journal of affective disorders 201 , pp. 64-78. 10.1016/j.jad.2016.03.015

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Abstract

Background In psychosis, white matter (WM) microstructural changes have been detected previously; however, direct comparisons of findings between bipolar (BD) and schizophrenia (SZ) patients are scarce. In this study, we employed deterministic tractography to reconstruct WM tracts in BD and SZ patients. Methods Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) data was carried out with n=32 euthymic BD type I patients, n=26 SZ patients and 30 matched healthy controls. Deterministic tractography using multiple indices of diffusion (fractional anisotropy (FA), tract volume (Vol), tract length (Le) and number of tracts (NofT)) were obtained from the fornix, the cingulum, the anterior thalamic radiation, and the corpus callosum bilaterally. Results We showed widespread WM microstructural changes in SZ, and changes in the corpus callosum, the left cingulum and the fornix in BD. Fornix fiber tracking scores were associated with cognitive performance in SZ, and with age and age at disease onset in the BD patient group. Limitations Although the influence of psychopharmacological drugs as biasing variables on morphological alterations has been discussed for SZ and BD, we did not observe a clear influence of drug exposure on our findings. Conclusions These results confirm the assumption that SZ patients have more severe WM changes than BD patients. The findings also suggest a major role of WM changes in the fornix as important fronto-limbic connections in the etiology of cognitive symptoms in SZ, but not in BD

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC) Medicine MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics (CNGG) Neuroscience and Mental Health Research Institute (NMHRI) Psychology
Subjects:	R Medicine > RC Internal medicine > RC0321 Neuroscience. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry
Publisher:	Elsevier
ISSN:	0165-0327
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	29 March 2017
Date of Acceptance:	7 March 2016
Last Modified:	08 Nov 2023 06:05
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/99485

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