Perfusion shift from white to gray matter may account for processing speed deficits in schizophrenia |
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| Authors: | Susan N. Wright L. Elliot Hong Anderson M. Winkler Joshua Chiappelli Katie Nugent Florian Muellerklein Xioming Du Laura M. Rowland Danny J. J. Wang Peter Kochunov |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Psychiatry, Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland;2. Oxford Centre for Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom;3. Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland;4. Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Maryland;5. Department of Neurology, University of California, Los Angeles, California;6. Department of Physics, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Maryland |
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| Abstract: | Reduced speed of cerebral information processing is a cognitive deficit associated with schizophrenia. Normal information processing speed (PS) requires intact white matter (WM) physiology to support information transfer. In a cohort of 107 subjects (47/60 patients/controls), we demonstrate that PS deficits in schizophrenia patients are explained by reduced WM integrity, which is measured using diffusion tensor imaging, mediated by the mismatch in WM/gray matter blood perfusion, and measured using arterial spin labeling. Our findings are specific to PS, and testing this hypothesis for patient‐control differences in working memory produces no explanation. We demonstrate that PS deficits in schizophrenia can be explained by neurophysiological alterations in cerebral WM. Whether the disproportionately low WM integrity in schizophrenia is due to illness or secondary due to this disorder deserves further examination. Hum Brain Mapp 36:3793–3804, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. |
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| Keywords: | nicotine DTI‐FA white matter acute change cognition processing speed attention |
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