Structural disconnectivity in schizophrenia: a diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging study

Abstract

Background: There is growing evidence that schizophrenia is a disorder of cortical connectivity Specifically, frontotemporal and frontoparietal connections are thought to be functionally impaired. Diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging (DT–MRI) is a technique that has the potential to demonstrate structural disconnectivity in schizophrenia. Aims: To investigate the structural integrity of frontotemporal and frontoparietal white matter tracts in schizophrenia. Method: Thirty patients with DSM–IV schizophrenia and thirty matched control subjects underwent DT–MRI and structural MRI. Fractional anisotropy – an index of the integrity of white matter tracts – was determined in the uncinate fasciculus, the anterior cingulum and the arcuate fasciculus and analysed using voxel-based morphometry. Results: There was reduced fractional anisotropy in the left uncinate fasciculus and left arcuate fasciculus in patients with schizophrenia compared with controls. Conclusions: The findings of reduced white matter tract integrity in the left uncinate fasciculus and left arcuate fasciculus suggest that there is frontotemporal and frontoparietal structural disconnectivity in schizophrenia.