Analyzing Language Ability in First-Episode Psychosis and Their Unaffected Siblings: A Diffusion Tensor Imaging Tract-Based Spatial Statistics Analysis Study

Çabuk T., Şahin Çevik D., Çakmak I. B., Yılmaz Kafalı H., Şenol B., Avcı H., ...Daha Fazla

JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH, cilt.179, sa.2024, ss.229-237, 2024 (SCI-Expanded, SSCI, Scopus)

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 179 Sayı: 2024
  • Basım Tarihi: 2024
  • Dergi Adı: JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, ASSIA, PASCAL, BIOSIS, Psycinfo
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.229-237
  • Hacettepe Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

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.