ABSTRACT
Objective To explore the structure changes of white matter in the first-episode schizo-phrenic patients with never-medicated(FESZ)and the relationship between facial emotion perception and white matter(WM)integrity.Methods Sixty-three schizophrenic patients and thirty health control subjects underwent diffusion tensor imaging(DTI)scans.Voxel-based analysis was used to compared fractional ani-sotropy(FA)map between the two groups.Correlations were analyzed with pearson relative analysis between impaired facial emotion perception tested by facial emotion categorization(FEC)and severity of symptoms measured by the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale(PANSS).Results (1)Compared with controls, FESZ patients showed overall decreased FA in WM of the body of left ventral frontal lobe((MNI(x,y,z):-18,26,-4;t=4.43)),right supramarginal gyrus((MNI(x,y,z):32,-50,26;t=4.27)),left middle oc-cipital gyral((MNI(x,y,z):-26,-60,0;t=4.89)),right middle occipital gyral((MNI(x,y,z):28,-70, 14;t=4.18)),left fusiform gyrus((MNI(x,y,z):-40,-50,0;t=3.92)),left cerebellum anterior lobe ((MNI(x,y,z):-32,-56,-28;t=4.57)),right parahippocampa gyrus1((MNI(x,y,z):32,-10,-14;t=4.16)),right parahippocampa gyrus2((MNI(x,y,z):16,-6,-14;t=4.56)),left anterior cingulate ((MNI(x,y,z):-2,4,-6;t=4.41)),left extra-nuclear((MNI(x,y,z):-2,-10,-6;t=4.44)),right thalamus((MNI(x,y,z):10,-10,2;t=4.20)),left thalamus((MNI(x,y,z):-22,-28,12;t=4.01)), and right caudate((MNI(x,y,z):14,12,8;t=4.87)).(2)Compared with controls,the patients with schizo-phrenia showed a higher shift point and a steeper slope than control subjects in FEC.Correlational analysis re-vealed that the negative correlations were found between the slope and negative factor(r=-0.298,P=0.036),between positive factor and the FA value in WM of the right middle occipital gyral(r=-0.322,P=0.023)and the left middle occipital gyral(r=-0.288,P=0.043),and between the FA value in the left cere-bellum anterior lobe and shift point(r=-0.393,P=0.005),but the positive correlation was found between disorganized/concrete factor and the FA value in the right parahippocampal gyrus(r=0.429,P=0.002).Con-clusions There are extensive microstructural abnormalities in WM of patients with FESZ.Disrupted WM in-tegrity in these regions may constitute a potential neural pathological basis for the facial emotion perception impairments in schizophrenia.