Abnormalities in Myelination of the Superior Cerebellar Peduncle in Patients with Schizophrenia and Deficits in Movement Sequencing
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2014 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Cerebellum |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Doi | http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12311-014-0550-y |
| Field | Psychiatry, sexuology |
| Keywords | Cerebellum; Cerebral peduncle; Corticospinal tracts; Diffusion tensor imaging; Psychomotor disorders; Schizophrenia |
| Description | Deficits in the execution of a sequence of movements are common in schizophrenia. Previous studies reported reduced functional activity in the motor cortex and cerebellum in schizophrenic patients with deficits in movement sequencing. The corticospinal tract (CST) and superior cerebellar peduncle (SCP) are fiber tracts that are involved in movement sequencing. However, the integrity of these tracts has not been evaluated in schizophrenic patients with respect to the performance of movement sequencing yet. Diffusion tensor magnetic resonance images (DT-MRI) were acquired from 24 patients with schizophrenia and 23 matched control subjects. Tractography was applied to reconstruct the CST and SCP and DT-MRI-specific parameters such as fractional anisotropy (FA) and radial diffusivity (RD) were reported. The patient group was further subdivided based on the score of sequencing of complex motor acts subscale of the Neurological Evaluation Scale into those with deficits in sequencing motor acts, the SQabn group (n = 7), and those with normal performance, the SQnorm group (n = 17). Schizophrenia patients of the SQnorm subgroup had significantly reduced FA and increased RD values in the right CST in comparison to the control group; the SQabn subgroup did not differ from the controls. However, the SQabn subgroup showed impaired integrity of the left SCP, whereas the SQnorm subgroup did not. Abnormalities in the right CST in the SQnorm and in the left SCP in SQabn groups suggest that the patients with SQabn represent subgroups with distinct deficits. Moreover, these results demonstrate the involvement of the SCP in the pathogenesis of movement sequencing in schizophrenia. |
| Related projects: |