Project Summary

Godfrey Pearlson, M.D. (Distinguished Investigator 2000) of Institute of Living/Hartford Hospital, aims to evaluate the integrity of brain white matter connectivity in schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and healthy controls.  A new technique called 3-dimensional diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) will be used.  It is hypothesized that patients with schizophrenia, but not bipolar disorder, have abnormalities in the white matter connections that link the temporal lobe and limbic regions to the cortex.  This abnormal connectivity may give rise to the psychotic symptoms and thought disorder characteristic of schizophrenia.  This work therefore utilizes a novel method to test the “misconnection” hypothesis of schizophrenia. 

Program Area: MULTIPLE FOCUS AREAS\Schizophrenia/Bipolar

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