Journal of psychiatry & neuroscience : JPN
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J Psychiatry Neurosci · Mar 2016
Frontal fasciculi and psychotic symptoms in antipsychotic-naive patients with schizophrenia before and after 6 weeks of selective dopamine D2/3 receptor blockade.
Psychotic symptoms are core clinical features of schizophrenia. We tested recent hypotheses proposing that psychotic, or positive, symptoms stem from irregularities in long-range white matter tracts projecting into the frontal cortex, and we predicted that selective dopamine D2/3 receptor blockade would restore white matter. ⋯ Antipsychotic-naive patients with schizophrenia displayed subtle deficits in white matter, and psychotic symptoms appeared specifically associated with frontal fasciculi integrity. Six weeks of amisulpride treatment normalized white matter. Potential remyelinating effects of dopamine D2/3 receptor antagonism warrant further clarification.