White matter alterations in affective and non-affective early psychosis: A diffusion MRI study

1. J Affect Disord. 2024 Apr 15;351:615-623. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2024.01.238. Epub
2024 Jan 28.

White matter alterations in affective and non-affective early psychosis: A
diffusion MRI study.

Moghaddam HS(1), Parsaei M(2), Taghavizanjani F(1), Cattarinussi G(3), Aarabi
MH(4), Sambataro F(5).

Author information:
(1)Psychiatric Research Center, Roozbeh Hospital, Tehran University of Medical
Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
(2)Maternal, Fetal & Neonatal Research Center, Family Health Research Institute,
Imam Khomeini Hospital Complex, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran,
Iran.
(3)Department of Neuroscience (DNS), University of Padova, Padua, Italy; Padova
Neuroscience Center, University of Padova, Padua, Italy; Department of
Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience,
King’s College London, London, UK.
(4)Department of Neuroscience (DNS), University of Padova, Padua, Italy; Padova
Neuroscience Center, University of Padova, Padua, Italy.
(5)Department of Neuroscience (DNS), University of Padova, Padua, Italy; Padova
Neuroscience Center, University of Padova, Padua, Italy. Electronic address:
.

BACKGROUND: The early years after the onset of psychotic disorders, known as
« early psychosis » (EP) are critical to determining the path of psychosis
trajectory. We used a Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging (DMRI) connectometry
approach to assess the microstructural changes of white matter (WM) associated
with EP.
METHODS: We used the Human Connectome Project in Early Psychosis (HCP-EP)
dataset to collect DMRI data from patients with EP. The imaging data were
processed in the Montreal Neuroimaging Initiative space and transformed into
quantitative anisotropy (QA). The QA value was translated into the WM
connectivity of each tract and used in the subsequent analysis.
RESULTS: 121 patients with EP (94 non-affective/27 affective) and 56 healthy
controls were recruited. EP was associated with increased QA in the body and
tapetum of corpus callosum (CC) and decreased QA in the bilateral cerebellum,
and middle cerebellar peduncle. Compared to non-affective psychosis, affective
psychosis showed increased QA in the bilateral cerebellum and vermis and
decreased QA in the forceps minor, body of CC, right cingulum, and bilateral
inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus. Furthermore, QA changes in several WM
tracts were correlated with positive and negative symptom scale scores.
LIMITATIONS: DMRI intrinsic limitations, limited sample size, and
neurobiological effects of psychotropic treatment.
CONCLUSIONS: EP is associated with alterations in WM connectivity primarily in
the CC and cerebellar regions. Also, affective and non-affective psychosis have
distinct alterations in WM connectivity. These results can be used for the early
diagnosis and differentiation of psychotic disorders.

Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2024.01.238
PMID: 38290585 [Indexed for MEDLINE]

Conflict of interest statement: Declaration of competing interest The authors
declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal
relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this
paper.

Auteurs Bordeaux Neurocampus