Aberrant white matter microstructure in treatment-resistant schizophrenia

McNabb, C. B. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6434-5177, McIlwain, M. E., Anderson, V. M., Kydd, R. R., Sundram, F. and Russell, B. R. (2020) Aberrant white matter microstructure in treatment-resistant schizophrenia. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, 305. 111198. ISSN 0925-4927 doi: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2020.111198

Abstract/Summary

Treatment response in schizophrenia divides into three subcategories: treatment-responsive (first-line responders; FLR), treatment-resistant (TRS), and ultra-treatment-resistant schizophrenia (UTRS). White matter abnormalities could drive antipsychotic resistance but little work has investigated differences between TRS and UTRS. The current study aimed to establish whether differences in white matter structure are present across both treatment-resistant subtypes or if UTRS is distinct from TRS. Diffusion-weighted images were acquired for 18 individuals with TRS, 14 with UTRS, 18 FLR and 20 healthy controls. Measures of fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD), radial diffusivity (RD) and axial diffusivity (AD) were obtained using tract-based spatial statistics. Analysis of variance and post-hoc t-tests were conducted for each measure. Those with TRS had lower FA than healthy controls in superior longitudinal fasciculus, corpus callosum, thalamic radiation, corticospinal tract, internal capsule, corona radiata and fronto-occipital fasciculus (p<.05 FWE-corrected). Lower FA was also observed in TRS compared with UTRS in the superior longitudinal fasciculus (p<.05 FWE-corrected). No post-hoc tests survived corrections for multiple comparisons and no differences in MD, AD or RD were observed. These data suggest that microstructural deficits in white matter could contribute to TRS but suggest that other mechanisms may be more relevant for UTRS.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/93222
Identification Number/DOI	10.1016/j.pscychresns.2020.111198
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Department of Psychology
Publisher	Elsevier
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