Health & Fitness - White matter may be key to schizophrenia

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White matter may be key to schizophrenia

LOS ANGELES (UPI) -- U.S. researchers suggest brain white matter may help predict schizophrenia development.

The study, published in Biological Psychiatry, used diffusion tensor imaging -- a form of brain imaging that detects movement of water molecules along white matter tracts -- to map brain pathways.

"We found that healthy subjects showed a normal and expected increase in measures indexing white matter integrity in the temporal lobe as they age, but young people at high-risk for psychosis showed no such increase -- that is, they fail to show the normal developmental pattern," lead author Katherine Karlsgodt of the University of California, Los Angeles, said in a statement.

Over a two-year period, Karlsgodt and colleagues conducted clinical and functional assessments for a control group of 25 healthy people and 36 teens and young adults ages 12 to 26. The younger subjects were at very high risk for developing schizophrenia due to genetic factors such having a close relative with schizophrenia or showing early clinical symptoms.

Both groups underwent imaging.

The researchers found white matter integrity in the temporal lobe at the first appointment could predict the degree functionality would be affected in 15 months by schizophrenia -- a debilitating disorder that usually strikes in early adulthood and is marked by auditory hallucinations and paranoia.

Copyright 2009 by United Press International

This news arrived on: 06/23/2009

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