PROJECT 4 - DTI AND MTI STUDIES IN SCHIZOPHRENIA

这个子项目是许多研究子项目中利用 资源由NIH/NCRR资助的中心拨款提供。子项目和 调查员(PI)可能从NIH的另一个来源获得了主要资金， 并因此可以在其他清晰的条目中表示。列出的机构是 该中心不一定是调查人员的机构。 在过去的十年里，大量的磁共振成像(MRI)研究促进了对精神分裂症神经病理的理解，证实了精神分裂症存在脑结构异常，包括脑室、额叶、内侧颞叶、颞上回、顶叶下叶和皮质下脑区的体积变化(供回顾，见1)。在精神分裂症中观察到的异常的分布模式和数量与大脑区域内和大脑区域之间的连接障碍以及作为这种神经连接障碍的基础的白质异常是一致的。事实上，前额叶灰质体积与精神分裂症患者大脑中杏仁核-海马体复合体和颞上回的体积减少高度相关。虽然许多传统的核磁共振研究已经报告了精神分裂症患者的灰质异常1，但相比之下，相对较少的研究专门评估和报告了精神分裂症患者大脑中适度但显著的脑白质体积减少3-9。更新的技术，如扩散张量成像(DTI)和磁化转移成像(MTI)，可以推断白质束的一致性(各向异性)，以及磁化转移成像(MTI)，它提供了大脑中髓鞘的假定测量(磁化传输率；MTR)，将我们对白质缺陷的理解从仅仅评估体积损失扩展到提供白质束组织减少和精神分裂症脑中髓鞘含量轻微减少的初步成像证据。这些发现也与显微镜研究揭示的精神分裂症患者前额叶皮质有髓纤维的超微结构变化10-12相一致。此外，脱髓鞘疾病，如青春期发作的异色性脑白质营养不良和多发性硬化症，与精神分裂症中观察到的行为和认知障碍有关。 这项研究的目的是更多地了解被诊断为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 (for review, see1). 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 patients2. While numerous conventional MRI studies have reported grey matter abnormalities in schizophrenia1, relatively few in comparison have specifically assessed and reported modest but significant white matter volume decreases in schizophrenic brains3-9. 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 patients10-12. 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.