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Schizophrenia Bulletin Advance Access published online on November 27, 2008
Schizophrenia Bulletin, doi:10.1093/schbul/sbn161
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org.

Tract-based Analysis of Magnetization Transfer Ratio and Diffusion Tensor Imaging of the Frontal and Frontotemporal Connections in Schizophrenia

René C. W. Mandl1, Hugo G. Schnack, Judy Luigjes, Martijn P. van den Heuvel, Wiepke Cahn, René S. Kahn and Hilleke E. Hulshoff Pol
Department of Psychiatry, Rudolf Magnus Institute of Neuroscience, University Medical Center Utrecht, Heidelberglaan 100, 3584 CX Utrecht, The Netherlands

1 To whom correspondence should be addressed; tel: 31-0-887559705, fax: 31-0-887555443, e-mail: r.mandl{at}umcutrecht.nl.

Background: In the pathophysiology of schizophrenia, aberrant connectivity between brain regions may be a central feature. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) studies have shown altered fractional anisotropy (FA) in white brain matter in schizophrenia. Focal reductions in myelin have been suggested in patients using magnetization transfer ratio (MTR) imaging but to what extent schizophrenia may be related to changes in MTR measured along entire fiber bundles is still unknown. Methods: DTI and MTR images were acquired with a 1.5-T scanner in 40 schizophrenia patients and compared with those of 40 healthy participants. The mean FA and mean MTR were measured along the genu of the corpus callosum and the left and right uncinate fasciculus. Results: A higher mean MTR of 1% was found in the right uncinate fasciculus in patients compared with healthy participants. A significant negative correlation between age and mean FA in the left uncinate fasciculus was found in schizophrenia patients but not in healthy participants. Conclusions: Decreased FA in the left uncinate fasciculus may be more prominent in patients with longer illness duration. The increased mean MTR in the right uncinate fasciculus could reflect a compensatory role for myelin in these fibers or possibly represent aberrant frontotemporal connectivity.

Keywords: schizophrenia / diffusion tensor imaging / magnetization transfer ratio / tract-based analysis / uncinate fasciculus / genu of the corpus callosum


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