White matter pathway organization of the reward system is related to positive and negative symptoms in schizophrenia

Abstract The reward system in schizophrenia has been linked to the emergence of delusions on the one hand and to negative symptoms such as affective flattening on the other hand. Previous Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) studies reported white matter microstructure alterations of regions related to th...

Full description

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Schizophrenia research 2014-03, Vol.153 (1), p.136-142
Main Authors:	Bracht, Tobias, Horn, Helge, Strik, Werner, Federspiel, Andrea, Razavi, Nadja, Stegmayer, Katharina, Wiest, Roland, Dierks, Thomas, Müller, Thomas J, Walther, Sebastian
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Adult Adult and adolescent clinical studies Anisotropy Biological and medical sciences Brain - pathology Case-Control Studies Delusions Diffusion Tensor Imaging Female Fiber tracking Hallucinations Humans Image Processing, Computer-Assisted Male Medical sciences Middle Aged Nerve Fibers, Myelinated - pathology Neural Pathways - pathology Psychiatric Status Rating Scales Psychiatry Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry Psychopathology. Psychiatry Psychoses Salience system Schizophrenia Schizophrenia - pathology Schizophrenia - physiopathology Statistics as Topic Young Adult
Online Access:	Get full text
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

Description
Summary:	Abstract The reward system in schizophrenia has been linked to the emergence of delusions on the one hand and to negative symptoms such as affective flattening on the other hand. Previous Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) studies reported white matter microstructure alterations of regions related to the reward system. The present study aimed at extending these findings by specifically investigating connection pathways of the reward system in schizophrenia. Therefore, 24 patients with schizophrenia and 22 healthy controls matched for age and gender underwent DTI-scans. Using a probabilistic fiber tracking approach we bilaterally extracted pathways connecting the ventral tegmental area (VTA) with the nucleus accumbens (NAcc), the medial and lateral orbitofrontal cortices (mOFC, lOFC), the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and the amygdala; as well as pathways connecting NAcc with mOFC, lOFC, dlPFC and amygdala resulting in a total of 18 connections. Probability indices forming part of a bundle of interest (PIBI) were compared between groups using independent t-tests. In 6 connection pathways PIBI-values were increased in schizophrenia. In 3 of these pathways the spatial extension of connection pathways was decreased. In schizophrenia patients, there was a negative correlation of PIBI-values and PANSS negative scores in the left VTA–amygdala and in the left NAcc–mOFC connection. A sum score of delusions and hallucinations correlated positively with PIBI-values of the left amygdala–NAcc connection. Structural organization of specific segments of white matter pathways of the reward system in schizophrenia may contribute to the emergence of delusions and negative symptoms in schizophrenia.
ISSN:	0920-9964 1573-2509