Research Information System
JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH, vol.179, no.2024, pp.229-237, 2024 (SCI-Expanded)
Schizophrenia (SZ) is a highly heritable mental disorder, and language dysfunctions play a crucial role in
diagnosing it. Although language-related symptoms such as disorganized speech were predicted by the polygenic
risk for SZ which emphasized the common genetic liability for the disease, few studies investigated possible
white matter integrity abnormalities in the language-related tracts in those at familial high-risk for SZ. Also, their
results are not consistent. In this current study, we examined possible aberrations in language-related white
matter tracts in patients with first-episode psychosis (FEP, N = 20), their siblings (SIB, N = 20), and healthy
controls (CON, N = 20) by applying whole-brain Tract-Based Spatial Statistics and region-of-interest analyses.
We also assessed language ability by Thought and Language Index (TLI) using Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
pictures and verbal fluency to see whether the scores of these language tests would predict the differences in
these tracts. We found significant alterations in language-related tracts such as inferior longitudinal fasciculus
(ILF) and uncinate fasciculus (UF) among three groups and between SIB and CON. We also proved partly their
relationship with the language test as indicated by the significant correlation detected between TLI Impoverished
thought/language sub-scale and ILF. We could not find any difference between FEP and CON. These results
showed that the abnormalities, especially in the ILF and UF, could be important pathophysiological vulnerability
indexes of schizophrenia. Further studies are required to understand better the role of language as a possible
endophenotype in schizophrenia with larger samples.