Research Article

Age effects on diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging tractography measures of frontal cortex connections in schizophrenia

  1. Derek K. Jones1,2,
  2. Marco Catani2,3,
  3. Carlo Pierpaoli1,
  4. Suzanne J.C. Reeves2,
  5. Sukhwinder S. Shergill4,
  6. Michael O'Sullivan5,
  7. Pasha Golesworthy6,
  8. Phillip McGuire4,
  9. Mark A. Horsfield7,
  10. Andrew Simmons6,
  11. Steven C.R. Williams6,
  12. Robert J. Howard2,*

Article first published online: 4 AUG 2005

DOI: 10.1002/hbm.20179

Issue

Human Brain Mapping

Human Brain Mapping

Volume 27, Issue 3, pages 230–238, March 2006

Additional Information

How to Cite

Jones, D. K., Catani, M., Pierpaoli, C., Reeves, S. J., Shergill, S. S., O'Sullivan, M., Golesworthy, P., McGuire, P., Horsfield, M. A., Simmons, A., Williams, S. C. and Howard, R. J. (2006), Age effects on diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging tractography measures of frontal cortex connections in schizophrenia. Human Brain Mapping, 27: 230–238. doi: 10.1002/hbm.20179

Author Information

  1. 1

    Section on Tissue Biophysics and Biomimetics, LIMB, NICHD, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland

  2. 2

    Old Age Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, London, United Kingdom

  3. 3

    Institute of Gerontology and Geriatrics, University of Perugia, Italy

  4. 4

    Section of Neuroimaging, Division of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, London, United Kingdom

  5. 5

    Division of Clinical Neuroscience, St. George's Hospital Medical School, London, United Kingdom

  6. 6

    Neuroimaging Research, Department of Neurology, Institute of Psychiatry, London, United Kingdom

  7. 7

    Division of Medical Physics, Leicester Royal Infirmary, Leicester, United Kingdom

*Section of Old Age Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF, United Kingdom

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 6 FEB 2006
  2. Article first published online: 4 AUG 2005
  3. Manuscript Accepted: 25 APR 2005
  4. Manuscript Received: 3 SEP 2004

Funded by

  • Wellcome Trust. Grant Number: 054030/2/98
  • Wellcome (research training fellowship)

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Keywords:

  • MRI;
  • fasciculi;
  • white matter;
  • anisotropy;
  • mean diffusivity

Abstract

Diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging (DT-MRI) has previously been used to investigate white matter tracts in schizophrenia, with inconsistent results. The aim of the study was to use a novel method for tract-specific measurements of fronto-temporal fasciculi in early-onset schizophrenia. We hypothesized that by making tract-specific measurements, clear diffusion abnormalities would be revealed in specific fasciculi in schizophrenia. Measurements of diffusion anisotropy and mean diffusivity were localized within fronto-temporal fasciculi by forming 3-D reconstructions of the cingulum, uncinate, superior longitudinal, and inferior fronto-occipital fasciculi using diffusion tensor tractography. We were limited in our ability to test our hypothesis by the important and surprising finding that age affected DT-MRI-based measures in schizophrenia patients in a different way from comparison subjects, most notably in the left superior longitudinal fasciculus. The youngest schizophrenia patients that we studied had lower diffusion anisotropy than age-matched comparison subjects, but this difference diminished with increasing age. The main conclusion of this study was that direct comparisons of absolute DT-MRI-based measures between individuals with schizophrenia and comparison subjects may be problematic and misleading because of underlying age-related differences in brain maturation between groups. Hum Brain Mapp, 2005. © 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

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