Structural disconnectivity in schizophrenia: a diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging study.

BACKGROUND: There is growing evidence that schizophrenia is a disorder of cortical connectivity. Specifically, frontotemporal and frontoparietal connections are thought to be functionally impaired. Diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging (DT-MRI) is a technique that has the potential to demonstrate structural disconnectivity in schizophrenia.

AIMS: To investigate the structural integrity of frontotemporal and frontoparietal white matter tracts in schizophrenia.

METHOD: Thirty patients with DSM-IV schizophrenia and thirty matched control subjects underwent DT-MRI and structural MRI. Fractional anisotropy - an index of the integrity of white matter tracts - was determined in the uncinate fasciculus, the anterior cingulum and the arcuate fasciculus and analysed using voxel-based morphometry.

RESULTS: There was reduced fractional anisotropy in the left uncinate fasciculus and left arcuate fasciculus in patients with schizophrenia compared with controls.

CONCLUSIONS: The findings of reduced white matter tract integrity in the left uncinate fasciculus and left arcuate fasciculus suggest that there is frontotemporal and frontoparietal structural disconnectivity in schizophrenia.