Abstract
The superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF) is a white matter bundle that connects the frontal areas with the parietal areas. As part of the visuospatial attentional network, it may be involved in the development of schizophrenia. Deficit syndrome (DS) is characterized by primary and enduring negative symptoms. The present study assessed SLF integrity in DS and nondeficit schizophrenia (NDS) patients and examined possible relationships between it and psychopathology. Twenty-six DS patients, 42 NDS patients, and 36 healthy controls (HC) underwent psychiatric evaluation and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). After post-processing, fractional anisotropy (FA) values within the SLF were analyzed. Psychopathology was assessed with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale, Brief Negative Symptom Scale, and Self-evaluation of Negative Symptoms. The PANSS proxy for the deficit syndrome was used to diagnose DS. NDS patients had lower FA values than HC. DS patients had greater negative symptoms than NDS patients. After differentiating clinical groups and HC, we found no significant correlations between DTI measures and psychopathological dimensions. These results suggest that changes in SLF integrity are related to schizophrenia, and frontoparietal dysconnection plays a role in its etiopathogenesis. We confirmed that DS patients have greater negative psychopathology than NDS patients. These results are preliminary; further studies are needed.
Highlights
Age and fractional anisotropy (FA) parameters in the superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF) were normally distributed in all three groups; negative symptoms measured with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) of Kay et al [57] were normally distributed only in the deficit syndrome (DS) group; negative symptoms assessed with the Brief Negative Symptom Scale (BNSS) and Self-evaluation of Negative Symptoms (SNS) were normally distributed in all three groups; years of education were not normally distributed
Patients with DS had greater severity of negative symptoms than patients with nondeficit syndrome (NDS) measured with the PANSS of Shafer and Dazzi [58] (p < 0.001) and negative symptoms measured with the PANSS of Kay et al [57] (p < 0.001), and negative symptoms assessed by two additional scales: BNSS (p < 0.001) and SNS (p < 0.001)
Statistical analysis after Holm–Bonferroni p-value correction did not show any significant correlations in DS or NDS patients between FA in the left or right SLF and psychopathological dimensions: positive symptoms, negative symptoms, disorganization, affect, or resistance measured with the PANSS of Shafer and Dazzi [58] or negative symptoms measured with the PANSS of Kay et al [57], or negative symptoms assessed with
Summary
One of the most recent is that proposed by Nakajima et al, which is mainly based on functional communication They distinguish the dorsal (originates in the inferior parietal lobe and terminates in the superior frontal gyrus and middle frontal gyrus), ventral (originates in the inferior parietal lobe and terminates in the middle frontal gyrus inferior frontal gyrus), and posterior parts (originates in the middle temporal gyrus and superior temporal gyrus and terminates in the inferior parietal lobe and superior parietal lobe) and the arcuate fasciculus (AF; originates in the inferior temporal gyrus, middle temporal gyrus, and superior temporal gyrus, and terminates in the posterior inferior frontal gyrus and middle frontal gyrus) [3]. The main functions of the SLF are visual and spatial cognition, attention processes, control of motor processes and executive functions, and language functions [3]
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