TY - JOUR
T1 - Similar white matter changes in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder
T2 - A tract-based spatial statistics study
AU - Squarcina, Letizia
AU - Bellani, Marcella
AU - Rossetti, Maria Gloria
AU - Perlini, Cinzia
AU - Delvecchio, Giuseppe
AU - Dusi, Nicola
AU - Barillari, Marco
AU - Ruggeri, Mirella
AU - Altamura, Carlo A
AU - Bertoldo, Alessandra
AU - Brambilla, Paolo
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - Several strands of evidence reported a significant overlapping, in terms of clinical symptoms, epidemiology and treatment response, between the two major psychotic disorders-Schizophrenia (SCZ) and Bipolar Disorder (BD). Nevertheless, the shared neurobiological correlates of these two disorders are far from conclusive. This study aims toward a better understanding of possible common microstructural brain alterations in SCZ and BD. Magnetic Resonance Diffusion data of 33 patients with BD, 19 with SCZ and 35 healthy controls were acquired. Diffusion indexes were calculated, then analyzed using Tract-Based Spatial Statistics (TBSS). We tested correlations with clinical and psychological variables. In both patient groups mean diffusion (MD), volume ratio (VR) and radial diffusivity (RD) showed a significant increase, while fractional anisotropy (FA) and mode (MO) decreased compared to the healthy group. Changes in diffusion were located, for both diseases, in the fronto-temporal and callosal networks. Finally, no significant differences were identified between patient groups, and a significant correlations between length of disease and FA and VR within the corpus callosum, corona radiata and thalamic radiation were observed in bipolar disorder. To our knowledge, this is the first study applying TBSS on all the DTI indexes at the same time in both patient groups showing that they share similar impairments in microstructural connectivity, with particular regards to fronto-temporal and callosal communication, which are likely to worsen over time. Such features may represent neural common underpinnings characterizing major psychoses and confirm the central role of white matter pathology in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
AB - Several strands of evidence reported a significant overlapping, in terms of clinical symptoms, epidemiology and treatment response, between the two major psychotic disorders-Schizophrenia (SCZ) and Bipolar Disorder (BD). Nevertheless, the shared neurobiological correlates of these two disorders are far from conclusive. This study aims toward a better understanding of possible common microstructural brain alterations in SCZ and BD. Magnetic Resonance Diffusion data of 33 patients with BD, 19 with SCZ and 35 healthy controls were acquired. Diffusion indexes were calculated, then analyzed using Tract-Based Spatial Statistics (TBSS). We tested correlations with clinical and psychological variables. In both patient groups mean diffusion (MD), volume ratio (VR) and radial diffusivity (RD) showed a significant increase, while fractional anisotropy (FA) and mode (MO) decreased compared to the healthy group. Changes in diffusion were located, for both diseases, in the fronto-temporal and callosal networks. Finally, no significant differences were identified between patient groups, and a significant correlations between length of disease and FA and VR within the corpus callosum, corona radiata and thalamic radiation were observed in bipolar disorder. To our knowledge, this is the first study applying TBSS on all the DTI indexes at the same time in both patient groups showing that they share similar impairments in microstructural connectivity, with particular regards to fronto-temporal and callosal communication, which are likely to worsen over time. Such features may represent neural common underpinnings characterizing major psychoses and confirm the central role of white matter pathology in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
KW - Adult
KW - Bipolar Disorder/diagnostic imaging
KW - Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging
KW - Female
KW - Humans
KW - Male
KW - Middle Aged
KW - Schizophrenia/diagnostic imaging
KW - White Matter/pathology
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0178089
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0178089
M3 - Article
C2 - 28658249
VL - 12
SP - e0178089
JO - PLoS One
JF - PLoS One
SN - 1932-6203
IS - 6
ER -