Altered Cellular White Matter But Not Extracellular Free Water on Diffusion MRI in Individuals at Clinical High Risk for Psychosis

Tang Y, Pasternak O, Kubicki M, Rathi Y, Zhang T, Wang J, Li H, Woodberry KA, Xu L, Qian Z, Zhu A, Whitfield-Gabrieli S, Keshavan MS, Niznikiewicz M, Stone WS, McCarley RW, Shenton ME, Wang J, Seidman LJ

Am J Psychiatry 2019 Oct;176(10):820-828

PMID: 31230461

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Detecting brain abnormalities in clinical high-risk populations before the onset of psychosis is important for tracking pathological pathways and for identifying possible intervention strategies that may impede or prevent the onset of psychotic disorders. Co-occurring cellular and extracellular white matter alterations have previously been implicated after a first psychotic episode. The authors investigated whether or not cellular and extracellular alterations are already present in a predominantly medication-naive cohort of clinical high-risk individuals experiencing attenuated psychotic symptoms.

METHODS: Fifty individuals at clinical high risk, of whom 40 were never medicated, were compared with 50 healthy control subjects, group-matched for age, gender, and parental socioeconomic status. 3-T multishell diffusion MRI data were obtained to estimate free-water imaging white matter measures, including fractional anisotropy of cellular tissue (FA) and the volume fraction of extracellular free water (FW).

RESULTS: Significantly lower FA was observed in the clinical high-risk group compared with the healthy control group, but no statistically significant FW alterations were observed between groups. Lower FA in the clinical high-risk group was significantly associated with a decline in Global Assessment of Functioning Scale (GAF) score compared with highest GAF score in the previous 12 months.

CONCLUSIONS: Cellular but not extracellular alterations characterized the clinical high-risk group, especially in those who experienced a decline in functioning. These cellular changes suggest an early deficit that possibly reflects a predisposition to develop attenuated psychotic symptoms. In contrast, extracellular alterations were not observed in this clinical high-risk sample, suggesting that previously reported extracellular abnormalities may reflect an acute response to psychosis, which plays a more prominent role closer to or at onset of psychosis.