Correlation Analysis of Acute Psychotic Symptom Domain Severity and Fractional Anisotropy of Brain White Matter Tracts in Schizophrenia

Brain white matter tracts (connectomes) have been analyzed in patients with schizophrenia whose condition was determined in the paradigm of dimensional approach.

The aim of the investigation is to study the connectivity of brain regions depending on the severity of the psychosis clinical picture in schizophrenia.

Materials and Methods. 46 patients (22 women and 24 men, average age — 26.5±5.3 years) with the diagnosis of schizophrenia have been examined in the period of the remission onset after a first psychotic episode. The condition severity was determined by assessing scores on the following psychometric scales: PANSS, CRDPSS, BFCRS, NSA-4, FAB. Diffusion-tensor magnetic resonance imaging of the brain was performed using 3Т MRI Magnetom Verio (Siemens Healthineers, Germany). Significant connections between the indicators of generalized fractional anisotropy of the brain pathways and the severity of the psychosis clinical picture were calculated based on the Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient.

Results. Specific structural features of the brain connectome correlating with symptom severity were identified for each symptom domain. Additionally, tracts in which changes were associated with the severity of several symptom domains simultaneously, were visualized. Alterations in the tracts of the right frontal parietal and parolfactory cingulum correlate with the severity of hallucinatory, negative, and catatonic symptoms. Changes in the tracts of the left frontal parahippocampal cingulum correlate negatively with the severity of hallucination and delusion, while changes in the right frontal parahippocampal cingulum correlate with the severity of delusion and catatonia. In cases of severe hallucinations, delusional disorders, and disorganization, the most significant changes are manifested in the tract structures of the left and right fornix. Significant changes in the pathways of the corpus callosum correlate with the intensity of catatonic symptoms and negative symptomatology. Manifestation severity of various domains of psychosis is associated with differences in structural organization of the brain tracts.

Conclusion. There have been received new data on possible differential involvement of the brain structures in the pathogenesis of various schizophrenia manifestations such as hallucinations, delusions, disorganization phenomena, catatonia, and negative disorders, which may be considered as objective neurophysiological markers of the given disease.

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Ushakov V.L., Zakharova N.V., Bravve L.V., Mamedova G.Sh., Kartashov S.I., Kostyuk G.P. Correlation Analysis of Acute Psychotic Symptom Domain Severity and Fractional Anisotropy of Brain White Matter Tracts in Schizophrenia. Sovremennye tehnologii v medicine 2025; 17(4): 5, https://doi.org/10.17691/stm2025.17.4.01