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White matter abnormalities of microstructure and physiological noise in schizophrenia

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Abstract

White matter abnormalities in schizophrenia have been revealed by many imaging techniques and analysis methods. One of the findings by diffusion tensor imaging is a decrease in fractional anisotropy (FA), which is an indicator of white matter integrity. On the other hand, elevation of metabolic rate in white matter was observed from positron emission tomography (PET) studies. In this report, we aim to compare the two structural and functional effects on the same subjects. Our comparison is based on the hypothesis that signal fluctuation in white matter is associated with white matter functional activity. We examined the variance of the signal in resting state fMRI and found significant differences between individuals with schizophrenia and non-psychiatric controls specifically in white matter tissue. Controls showed higher temporal signal-to-noise ratios clustered in regions including temporal, frontal, and parietal lobes, cerebellum, corpus callosum, superior longitudinal fasciculus, and other major white matter tracts. These regions with higher temporal signal-to-noise ratio agree well with those showing higher metabolic activity reported by studies using PET. The results suggest that individuals with schizophrenia tend to have higher functional activity in white matter in certain brain regions relative to healthy controls. Despite some overlaps, the distinct regions for physiological noise are different from those for FA derived from diffusion tensor imaging, and therefore provide a unique angle to explore potential mechanisms to white matter abnormality.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (R01 MH074983 and R01 2MH074983 to WPH).

Conflicts of interest

Hu Cheng, Sharlene D. Newman, Jerillyn S. Kent, Amanda Bolbecker, Mallory J. Klaunig, Brian F. O'Donnell, Aina Puce, and William P. Hetrick declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Informed consent

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, and the applicable revisions at the time of the investigation. Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, 47405, USA

    Hu Cheng, Sharlene D. Newman, Jerillyn S. Kent, Amanda Bolbecker, Mallory J. Klaunig, Brian F. O’Donnell, Aina Puce & William P. Hetrick

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  1. Hu Cheng
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  2. Sharlene D. Newman
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  3. Jerillyn S. Kent
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Correspondence to Hu Cheng.

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Cheng, H., Newman, S.D., Kent, J.S. et al. White matter abnormalities of microstructure and physiological noise in schizophrenia. Brain Imaging and Behavior 9, 868–877 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-014-9349-1

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