Impaired empathic abilities and reduced white matter integrity in schizophrenia

• Published in: Progress in neuro-psychopharmacology & biological psychiatry Vol. 48; pp. 117 - 123
• Main Authors: Fujino, Junya, Takahashi, Hidehiko, Miyata, Jun, Sugihara, Genichi, Kubota, Manabu, Sasamoto, Akihiko, Fujiwara, Hironobu, Aso, Toshihiko, Fukuyama, Hidenao, Murai, Toshiya
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier Inc 03.01.2014; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Analysis of Variance; Animals; Anisotropy; Biological and medical sciences; Brain - pathology; Brain Mapping; Corpus callosum; Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Emotions; Empathy; Female; Humans; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; Inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus; Interpersonal Relations; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Nerve Fibers, Myelinated - pathology; Neuropharmacology; Personality Disorders - etiology; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Psychological Tests; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Psychoses; Schizophrenia; Schizophrenia - complications; Schizophrenia - pathology; White matter; Young Adult; IRI; PT; Schizophrenia; MNI; Empathy; FS; SCID; IFOF; WM; JART; PANSS; EC; FSL; CC; ACC; GM; TBSS; White matter; Corpus callosum; Inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus; TFCE; PD; DTI; FA; ANOVAs; HPD; ATR; Psychosis; Ability; anterior thalamic radiation; Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders; Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale; Empathic Concern; analyses of variance; haloperidol; Interpersonal Reactivity Index; tract-based spatial statistics; anterior cingulate cortex; the Japanese Version of the National Adult Reading Test; FMRIB Software Library; threshold-free cluster enhancement; Montreal Neurological Institute; gray matter; Fantasy; diffusion tensor imaging; fractional anisotropy; Personal Distress; Perspective Taking
• ISSN: 0278-5846; 1878-4216
• DOI: 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2013.09.018

Empathic abilities are impaired in schizophrenia. Although the pathology of schizophrenia is thought to involve disrupted white matter integrity, the relationship between empathic disabilities and altered white matter in the disorder remains unclear. The present study tested associations between empathic disabilities and white matter integrity in order to investigate the neural basis of impaired empathy in schizophrenia. Sixty-nine patients with schizophrenia and 69 age-, gender-, handedness-, education- and IQ level-matched healthy controls underwent diffusion-weighted imaging. Empathic abilities were assessed using the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI). Using tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS), the associations between empathic abilities and white matter fractional anisotropy (FA), a measure of white matter integrity, were examined in the patient group within brain areas that showed a significant FA reduction compared with the controls. The patients with schizophrenia reported lower perspective taking and higher personal distress according to the IRI. The patients showed a significant FA reduction in bilateral deep white matter in the frontal, temporal, parietal and occipital lobes, a large portion of the corpus callosum, and the corona radiata. In schizophrenia patients, fantasy subscales positively correlated with FA in the left inferior fronto-occipital fasciculi and anterior thalamic radiation, and personal distress subscales negatively correlated with FA in the splenium of the corpus callosum. These results suggest that disrupted white matter integrity in these regions constitutes a pathology underpinning specific components of empathic disabilities in schizophrenia, highlighting that different aspects of empathic impairments in the disorder would have, at least partially, distinct neuropathological bases. •The relation between empathy and WM integrity was assessed in schizophrenia.•Empathic ability was evaluated using IRI.•The ability to fantasize positively correlated with FA in the left IFOF/ATR.•Personal distress negatively correlated with FA in the splenium of CC.•The multidimensionality of empathic impairments in schizophrenia was emphasized.