PROJECT 4 - DTI AND MTI STUDIES IN SCHIZOPHRENIA

该子项目是利用NIH/NCRR资助的中心赠款提供的资源的许多研究子项目之一。子项目和研究者（PI）可能从另一个NIH来源获得主要资金，因此可以在其他CRISP条目中表示。所列机构为中心，不一定是研究者所在机构。在过去的十年中，许多磁共振成像（MRI）研究已经推进了对精神分裂症神经病理学的理解，这些研究证实了精神分裂症中存在脑结构异常，包括脑室、额叶、内侧颞叶、上级颞回、顶叶下叶和皮质下脑区域的体积改变。在精神分裂症中观察到的异常的分布模式和数量与脑区域内和脑区域之间的连接紊乱以及这种紊乱的神经连接的基础白色异常一致。事实上，在精神分裂症患者的大脑中，前额叶灰质体积与杏仁核-海马复合体和上级颞回的体积减少高度相关。虽然许多传统的MRI研究报道了精神分裂症的灰质异常，但相比之下，相对较少的研究专门评估和报道了精神分裂症患者大脑中适度但显著的白色物质体积减少。较新的技术，如扩散张量成像（DTI），可以推断白色物质束的相干性（各向异性）和磁化传递成像（MTI），其提供了脑中髓鞘的推定测量（磁化传递比;港铁），将我们对白色物质缺陷的理解从仅仅评估体积损失扩展到为白色物质束的组织减少提供初步成像证据，精神分裂症患者大脑中髓鞘含量的细微减少。这些发现也与揭示精神分裂症患者前额叶皮质有髓纤维超微结构改变的显微镜研究一致。此外，脱髓鞘疾病，如青少年发病的异染性脑白质营养不良和多发性硬化症与行为和认知障碍有关，类似于精神分裂症中观察到的。 这项研究的目的是更多地了解被诊断患有精神分裂症的人的不同大脑区域。

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Understanding of the neuropathology of schizophrenia has been advanced by numerous magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies over the past decade, which confirms the presence of structural brain abnormalities in schizophrenia, including volume alterations of the ventricles, frontal lobe, medial temporal lobe, superior temporal gyrus, inferior parietal lobe and subcortical brain regions. The distributed pattern and number of abnormalities observed in schizophrenia are consistent with a disturbance of connectivity within and between brain regions and a white matter abnormality underlying this disturbed neural connectivity. Indeed, prefrontal grey matter volume has been highly correlated with volume reductions in the amygdala-hippocampus complex and superior temporal gyrus in the brains of schizophrenic patients. While numerous conventional MRI studies have reported grey matter abnormalities in schizophrenia, relatively few in comparison have specifically assessed and reported modest but significant white matter volume decreases in schizophrenic brains. Newer techniques such as diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), which allows inferences of the coherence of white matter tracts (anisotropy), and magnetization transfer imaging (MTI), which provides a putative measure of myelin in the brain (magnetization transfer ratio; MTR), extend our understanding of white matter deficits from merely assessing volumetric loss to providing preliminary imaging evidence for decreased organization in white matter tracts and subtle reductions in the myelin content of schizophrenic brains. These findings are also consistent with microscopic studies revealing ultrastructural alterations of myelinated fibers from the prefrontal cortex of schizophrenic patients. In addition, demyelinating diseases such as adolescent onset metachromatic leukodystrophy and multiple sclerosis are associated with behavioral and cognitive disturbances similar to that observed in schizophrenia. The purpose of this study is to learn more about different brain areas in people who have been diagnosed with schizophrenia.