Cortical microstructural changes in schizophrenia spectrum disorders using quantitative T1 mapping

Abstract

Introduction: Cortical brain changes have long been established in schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD), with a particular involvement of frontal and temporal areas. However, most studies to date focused on macrostructural analyses, such as cortical volume, thickness, and surface area. Quantitative T1 imaging (qT1) provides a measure of microstructural tissue properties, corresponding mainly to myelination. Methods: Fourteen SSD patients and 7 healthy controls were recruited and underwent qT1 imaging using two different acquisition sequences, single and multi-echo qT1. Results: Compared to controls, SSD patients had a pronounced increase in qT1 values in frontal and temporal areas, while accounting for age and sex. However, this was only detected by the single echo qT1. Additionally, single echo qT1 was negatively modulated by sex in the SSD group, with females having lower qT1 values compared to their male counterparts. Discussion: These results suggest impaired myelination in the frontal and temporal cortices in SSD. Lastly, we highlight the importance of protocol selection as inter-protocol reliability is still a concern despite the quantitative protocols developed to overcome this limitation.