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. 2021 May 21;10(11):2225.
doi: 10.3390/jcm10112225.

White Matter Integrity of the Corpus Callosum and Psychopathological Dimensions in Deficit and Non-Deficit Schizophrenia Patients

Piotr Podwalski  1 , Ernest Tyburski  2 , Krzysztof Szczygieł  1 , Katarzyna Waszczuk  1 , Katarzyna Rek-Owodziń  3 , Monika Mak  3 , Piotr Plichta  3 , Maksymilian Bielecki  3 , Krzysztof Rudkowski  1 , Jolanta Kucharska-Mazur  1 , Wojciech Andrusewicz  4 , Błażej Misiak  5 , Agata Szulc  6 , Anna Michalczyk  1 , Sylwia Michałowska  7 , Leszek Sagan  4 , Jerzy Samochowiec  1
Affiliations

White Matter Integrity of the Corpus Callosum and Psychopathological Dimensions in Deficit and Non-Deficit Schizophrenia Patients

Piotr Podwalski et al. J Clin Med. .

Abstract

Deficit syndrome (DS) is a subtype of schizophrenia characterized by primary persistent negative symptoms. The corpus callosum (CC) appears to be related to psychopathology in schizophrenia. This study assessed white matter integrity in the CC using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in deficit and non-deficit schizophrenia (NDS) patients. We also investigated the psychopathological dimensions of schizophrenia and their relationship to CC integrity. Fifteen DS patients, 40 NDS patients, and 30 healthy controls (HC) underwent psychiatric evaluation and neuroimaging. We divided the CC into five regions and assessed their fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD). Psychopathology was assessed with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale. DS patients had lower FA than NDS patients and HC, and higher MD in Region 5 of the CC than did HC. NDS patients had higher MD in Region 4 of the CC. The patient groups differed in terms of negative symptoms. After differentiating clinical groups and HC, no significant correlations were observed between DTI measures and psychopathological symptoms. Our results suggest that DS and NDS are characterized by minor impairments of the posterior CC. We confirmed that DS patients have greater negative psychopathology than NDS patients. Our results are preliminary, and further studies are needed.

Keywords: corpus callosum; deficit schizophrenia; diffusion tensor imaging; fractional anisotropy; mean diffusivity; psychopathology; schizophrenia; white matter integrity.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Diffusion tensor tractography of the corpus callosum (CC) with fractional anisotropy (FA) color maps. Green, red, and blue colors represent fibers running along the axis (anterior–posterior, left–right, and superior–inferior, respectively). Five single projections with ROIs on a sagittal plane ((A) = Region 1, (B) = Region 2, (C) = Region 3, (D) = Region 4, and (E) = Region 5), and (F) = the whole region of the CC, (G) = all regions of the CC.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Fractional anisotropy (A) and mean diffusivity (B) of the corpus callosum (CC) for all groups. Standard deviations (SD) are presented as bars. a Significant difference after co-varying the negative symptoms; + p < 0.1; * p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Severity of different dimensions of psychopathological symptoms for both clinical groups. Standard deviations (SD) are presented as bars. + p < 0.1; *** p < 0.001.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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