Cornell University
Library
Cornell UniversityLibrary

eCommons

Help
Log In(current)
  1. Home
  2. Weill Cornell Medicine
  3. Medical College Research and Papers
  4. Department of Psychiatry
  5. Peripheral Microvascular and Cerebral White Matter Dysfunction in Schizophrenia: Implications of a Body-Brain Endothelial Pathophysiology.

Peripheral Microvascular and Cerebral White Matter Dysfunction in Schizophrenia: Implications of a Body-Brain Endothelial Pathophysiology.

File(s)
40036787.pdf (459.8 KB)
No Access Until
2/28/26
Permanent Link(s)
https://hdl.handle.net/1813/117027
Collections
Department of Psychiatry
Author
Goldwaser, E.L.
Yuen, A.
Marshall, W.
Adhikari, B.M.
Chiappelli, J.
van der Vaart, A.
Kvarta, M.
Ma, Y.
Du, X.
Gao, S.
Bruce, H.
Donnelly, P.
Mitchell, B.
Hong, C.
Wang, D.J.J.
Kochunov, P.
Hong, L.E.
Abstract

BACKGROUND AND HYPOTHESIS: Schizophrenia spectrum disorder (SSD) is a chronic neuropsychiatric illness accompanied by significant brain structural and functional abnormalities and higher rate of cardio- and cerebrovascular comorbidities. We hypothesized that genetic and environmental risk factors that led to SSD act throughout the body and demonstrated the association between lower integrity of peripheral vascular endothelium and white matter (WM) microstructure. STUDY DESIGN: Microvascular endothelial function was evaluated using brachial artery post-occlusive reactive hyperemia (PORH), in which endothelial responses are measured under reduced blood flow and after blood flow is restored. White matter microstructure was assessed by multi-shell diffusion tensor imaging in n = 48 healthy controls (HCs) and n = 46 SSD. STUDY RESULTS: Patients showed significantly lower PORH (F1,90 = 5.31, P = .02) effect and lower whole-brain fractional anisotropy (FA) values by diffusion imaging (F1,84 = 7.46, P = .008) with a group × post-occlusion time interaction effect (F3,90 = 4.58, P = .02). The PORH and whole-brain FA were significantly correlated in the full sample (r = 0.28, P = .01) and in SSD (r = 0.4, P = .008) separately, but not HC (r = 0.18, P = .28). CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated, for the first time, significantly lower integrity of vascular endothelium in participants with SSD and showed that it is associated with WM microstructural abnormalities. Together, these findings support the need for a more holistic, body-brain approach to study the pathophysiology of SSD.

Journal / Series
Schizophrenia bulletin
Date Issued
2/28/25
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Keywords
blood flow
•
blood vessels
•
mechanism
•
microstructure
•
psychosis
•
vascular
•
WCM Library Coordinated Deposit
Related DOI
https://doi.org/10.1093/schbul/sbaf020
Previously Published as
Goldwaser EL, Yuen A, Marshall W, Adhikari BM, Chiappelli J, van der Vaart A, Kvarta M, Ma Y, Du X, Gao S, Bruce H, Donnelly P, Mitchell B, Hong C, Wang DJJ, Kochunov P, Hong LE. Peripheral Microvascular and Cerebral White Matter Dysfunction in Schizophrenia: Implications of a Body-Brain Endothelial Pathophysiology. Schizophr Bull. 2025. Epub 20250228. doi: 10.1093/schbul/sbaf020. PMID: 4003678.
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Rights URI
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Type
article

Site Statistics | Help

About eCommons | Policies | Terms of use | Contact Us

copyright © 2002-2026 Cornell University Library | Privacy | Web Accessibility Assistance