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Study Reveals White Matter Changes in Schizophrenia

People recently diagnosed with schizophrenia have abnormalities in a specific area of the brain's white matter. The study, published this month in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology, suggests that brain signals passing through the temporal lobe may get "crossed" and lead to some of the symptoms associated with schizophrenia. The research was done at The Zucker Hillside Hospital and The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research (www.FeinsteinInstitute.org).

The brain consists of gray matter and white matter. The gray matter comprises neurons; the white matter contains the long axon projections that control messages sent throughout the brain and forms the connections among different gray matter regions. Without adequate insulation on these projections, akin to wiring in an electrical outlet, brain cells fail to communicate effectively. The resulting cross-talk may explain why patients with schizophrenia have disturbances in emotion, social functioning, thinking and perceiving information.

All study participants had a relatively novel scanning technique called diffusion tensor imaging, which enables the quantification of movement of water molecules along white matter pathways to assess brain white matter integrity. Abnormalities in the brain's white matter can be identified from the scans. Philip R. Szeszko, PhD, and his colleagues found these abnormalities when they looked at the images from the brains of people with schizophrenia. There is growing evidence that the mind-altering condition may be laid down at birth and that an alteration in genes that regulate white matter development could play a role in the neurobiology of the disorder when it arises, generally in late adolescence or early adulthood.

White-matter abnormalities in schizophrenia have been identified by others, but this is one of the first studies to identify abnormalities in patients early in the course of illness when symptoms first emerge and prior to extensive pharmacologic intervention. Moreover, Dr. Szeszko found that these temporal lobe white matter abnormalities were associated with more severe symptoms and neuropsychological deficits, further supporting a role for this brain region in the neurobiology of the disorder.

Contact: Jamie Talan, science writer-in-residence 516-562-1232 (o) or 631-682-8781 (c)

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