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White matter alterations in schizophrenic patients with pronounced negative symptomatology and with positive family history for schizophrenia

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Abstract

Background

In recent years, in vivo and post-mortem studies detected structural brain changes in schizophrenia. The aim of our analysis was to investigate potential changes of white matter in schizophrenic patients compared to controls, and the relationship to clinical characteristics.

Methods

Fifty male, right-handed schizophrenic patients who met DSM-IV criteria for schizophrenia were recruited. Fifty right-handed, age- and sex-matched subjects without a psychiatric disorder were enrolled as controls. Volumes of white matter in several brain regions were measured by 1.5 T MRI using a volumetry and segmentation software (BRAINS). Regions of interest including frontal, temporal, parietal, occipital and subcortical areas were determined using Talairach spaces.

Results

No significant differences in white matter volumes of total brain tissue and regions of interest were detected between patients and controls. A significant reduction of white matter in parietal cortex of right hemisphere was found in a subgroup of patients with pronounced negative symptoms. Furthermore, patients with first-grade relatives suffering from schizophrenia showed a reduction of subcortical white matter in the right hemisphere.

Conclusions

Our results indicate that subgroups of schizophrenic patients show alterations of white matter in distinct brain regions, including the right parietal lobe.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft Grant No. 231/96. We would like to thank Professor N. Andreasen and her staff, who provided generous support with the segmentation program BRAINS, and Dr. Strauß and B. Burgermeister for generous technical support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Ludwig-Maximilians University, Nussbaumstr. 7, 80336, Munich, Germany

    Thomas Zetzsche MD, Ulrich W. Preuss MD, Thomas Frodl MD, Ulrich Hegerl MD, Hans-Jürgen Möller MD & Eva M. Meisenzahl MD

  2. Department of Radiology, Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich, Germany

    Gerda Leinsinger MD, Christine Born MD & Maximilian Reiser MD

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  1. Thomas Zetzsche MD
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  2. Ulrich W. Preuss MD
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  3. Thomas Frodl MD
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  8. Hans-Jürgen Möller MD
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  9. Eva M. Meisenzahl MD
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Correspondence to Eva M. Meisenzahl MD.

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Zetzsche, T., Preuss, U.W., Frodl, T. et al. White matter alterations in schizophrenic patients with pronounced negative symptomatology and with positive family history for schizophrenia. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosc 258, 278–284 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-007-0793-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-007-0793-4

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