Mariana Lazar1,
Dolores Malaspina2, Laura Miles1, Ali-mohammad
Golestani1, Nicole Peccerelli1
1Department
of Radiology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, United
States; 2Department of Psychiatry, New York University School of
Medicine, New York, NY, United States
DTI literature widely reports reduced fractional anisotropy (FA) in schizophrenia. However, the underlying white matter pathophysiology remains unclear as differences in FA can stem from a variety of causes including differences in myelination and fiber density and geometry. In this study we employed Diffusion Kurtosis Imaging in conjunction with a newly proposed two-compartment white matter diffusion model to evaluate differences in axonal density and myelination in chronic schizophrenia. Our results suggest atypical myelination as a pervasive pathophysiological feature of the disorder. Fiber density does not appear to be significantly affected in this population.