From UCLA
What matters to youthful schizophrenics and the onset of their affliction may be development disorders in a key tissue that connects regions of the brain, so called "white matter," researchers say. In a study of youths 12 to 26, 25 of them healthy and another 36 at very high risk of problems with the disorder that's linked with auditory hallucinations and paranoia, researchers examined their white matter using a new brain imaging technique. They found that those with very high schizophrenia risk had lesser development of white matter; this crucial tissue developed normally in the control group. Further, by examining white matter development, they found correlation on follow up visits with the high-risk individuals as to how badly they functioned or deteriorated over time. Because schizophrenia often attacks in late adolescence or early adulthood, researchers have suspected a developmental link and white matter changes already have been tied to schizophrenia.
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