Neural disorganization in the superior cerebellar peduncle and cognitive abnormality in patients with schizophrenia: A diffusion tensor imaging study

Disconnection in the frontal-thalamic-cerebellar circuit is thought to be associated with cognitive abnormality in patients with schizophrenia. The superior cerebellar peduncle is involved in neural connectivity in the circuit. Because diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) can detect neural disconnection, we investigated whether there was neural disruption in the superior cerebellar peduncle in patients with schizophrenia. DTI was performed in 21 schizophrenic subjects and 21 age- and sex-matched healthy subjects. Cognitive cluster scores were attained by using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). Schizophrenic subjects had significantly lower fractional anisotropy (FA) in the right and left superior cerebellar peduncles than healthy subjects. Higher FA in the left superior cerebellar peduncle was associated with worse cognitive function in patients with schizophrenia. These findings suggest that there is neural disruption in the superior cerebellar peduncle in patients with schizophrenia, which may be involved in the cognitive abnormalities found in schizophrenia.

[1]  S. Kay,et al.  The positive and negative syndrome scale (PANSS) for schizophrenia. , 1987, Schizophrenia bulletin.

[2]  Dai Zhang,et al.  A diffusion tensor imaging study of middle and superior cerebellar peduncle in male patients with schizophrenia , 2003, Neuroscience Letters.

[3]  R. Kikinis,et al.  Cingulate fasciculus integrity disruption in schizophrenia: a magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging study , 2003, Biological Psychiatry.

[4]  N C Andreasen,et al.  Schizophrenia and cognitive dysmetria: a positron-emission tomography study of dysfunctional prefrontal-thalamic-cerebellar circuitry. , 1996, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[5]  N. Andreasen.  A unitary model of schizophrenia: Bleuler's "fragmented phrene" as schizencephaly. , 1999, Archives of general psychiatry.

[6]  D. Le Bihan,et al.  Diffusion tensor imaging: Concepts and applications , 2001, Journal of magnetic resonance imaging : JMRI.

[7]  J. Helpern,et al.  Neuropsychiatric applications of DTI – a review , 2002, NMR in biomedicine.

[8]  J. Fleiss,et al.  Intraclass correlations: uses in assessing rater reliability. , 1979, Psychological bulletin.

[9]  Carl-Fredrik Westin,et al.  White matter hemisphere asymmetries in healthy subjects and in schizophrenia: a diffusion tensor MRI study , 2004, NeuroImage.

[10]  E. Stip,et al.  On the trail of a cognitive enhancer for the treatment of schizophrenia , 2005, Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry.

[11]  Warren D Taylor,et al.  Late-life depression and microstructural abnormalities in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex white matter. , 2004, The American journal of psychiatry.

[12]  T. Kinoshita,et al.  Diffusion tensor imaging study of the middle cerebellar peduncles in patients with schizophrenia , 2008, The Cerebellum.

[13]  T. Kinoshita,et al.  Diffusion Tensor Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Disruption of Regional White Matter in Schizophrenia , 2003, Neuropsychobiology.

[14]  Michael Sanfilipo,et al.  Inferior frontal white matter anisotropy and negative symptoms of schizophrenia: a diffusion tensor imaging study. , 2003, The American journal of psychiatry.

[15]  T. Kinoshita,et al.  Subtle Disruption of the Middle Cerebellar Peduncles in Patients with Schizophrenia , 2004, Neuropsychobiology.

[16]  S. Kay.  Positive and negative syndromes in schizophrenia: Assessment and research. , 1991 .

[17]  K Nobuhara,et al.  Frontal white matter anisotropy and symptom severity of late-life depression: a magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging study , 2005, Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry.

[18]  Julie Kreyenbuhl,et al.  Practice guideline for the treatment of patients with schizophrenia , 1997 .

[19]  P. Liddle.  The Symptoms of Chronic Schizophrenia , 1987, British Journal of Psychiatry.

[20]  R. Kikinis,et al.  Quantitative volumetric MRI study of the cerebellum and vermis in schizophrenia: clinical and cognitive correlates. , 1999, The American journal of psychiatry.

[21]  Ingrid Agartz,et al.  Reduced grey and white matter volumes in the temporal lobe of male patients with chronic schizophrenia , 2002, European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience.

[22]  S. Paradiso,et al.  "Cognitive dysmetria" as an integrative theory of schizophrenia: a dysfunction in cortical-subcortical-cerebellar circuitry? , 1998, Schizophrenia bulletin.