Abnormal connectional fingerprint in schizophrenia: a novel network analysis of diffusion tensor imaging data

Edwin Thanarajah, S., Han, C. E., Rotarska-Jagiela, A., Singer, W., Deichmann, R., Maurer, K., Kaiser, M. and Uhlhaas, P. J. (2016) Abnormal connectional fingerprint in schizophrenia: a novel network analysis of diffusion tensor imaging data. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 7, 114. (doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2016.00114) (PMID:27445870) (PMCID:PMC4928135)

Abstract

The graph theoretical analysis of structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data has received a great deal of interest in recent years to characterize the organizational principles of brain networks and their alterations in psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia. However, the characterization of networks in clinical populations can be challenging, since the comparison of connectivity between groups is influenced by several factors, such as the overall number of connections and the structural abnormalities of the seed regions. To overcome these limitations, the current study employed the whole-brain analysis of connectional fingerprints in diffusion tensor imaging data obtained at 3 T of chronic schizophrenia patients (n = 16) and healthy, age-matched control participants (n = 17). Probabilistic tractography was performed to quantify the connectivity of 110 brain areas. The connectional fingerprint of a brain area represents the set of relative connection probabilities to all its target areas and is, hence, less affected by overall white and gray matter changes than absolute connectivity measures. After detecting brain regions with abnormal connectional fingerprints through similarity measures, we tested each of its relative connection probability between groups. We found altered connectional fingerprints in schizophrenia patients consistent with a dysconnectivity syndrome. While the medial frontal gyrus showed only reduced connectivity, the connectional fingerprints of the inferior frontal gyrus and the putamen mainly contained relatively increased connection probabilities to areas in the frontal, limbic, and subcortical areas. These findings are in line with previous studies that reported abnormalities in striatal–frontal circuits in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia, highlighting the potential utility of connectional fingerprints for the analysis of anatomical networks in the disorder.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: CEH was funded by National Research Foundation of Korea funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MSIP-R1A1A1008173). MK was funded by National Research Foundation of Korea funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (R32-10142), the Royal Society (RG/2006/R2), the CARMEN e-science project (http://www.carmen.org.uk) funded by EPSRC (EP/E002331/1), and the Human Green Brain Project (http://www.greenbrainproject.org) funded by EPSRC (EP/K026992/1). PU, SET, and WS were supported by the MaxPlanck Society. None of authors has financial conflicts.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Uhlhaas, Professor Peter
• Authors: Edwin Thanarajah, S., Han, C. E., Rotarska-Jagiela, A., Singer, W., Deichmann, R., Maurer, K., Kaiser, M., and Uhlhaas, P. J.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Psychology & Neuroscience
• Journal Name: Frontiers in Psychiatry
• Publisher: Frontiers Media
• ISSN: 1664-0640
• ISSN (Online): 1664-0640
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2016 Edwin Thanarajah, Han, Rotarska-Jagiela, Singer, Deichmann, Maurer, Kaiser and Uhlhaas
• First Published: First published in Frontiers in Psychiatry 7: 114
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License