Hemispheric lateralization is a prominent feature of the human brain and is grounded into intra- and inter-hemispheric white matter (WM) connections. However, disruptions in hemispheric lateralization involving both intra- and inter-hemispheric WM connections in schizophrenia is still unclear. Hence, a quantitative measure of the hemispheric lateralization of intra- and inter-hemispheric WM connections could provide new insights into schizophrenia. This work performed diffusion tensor imaging on 50 patients and 58 matched healthy controls. Using graph theory, the global and nodal efficiencies were computed for both intra- and inter-hemispheric networks. We found that patients with schizophrenia showed significantly decrease in both global and nodal efficiency of hemispheric networks relative to healthy controls. Specially, deficits in intra-hemispheric integration and inter-hemispheric communication were revealed in frontal and temporal regions for schizophrenia. We also found disrupted hemispheric asymmetries in brain regions associated with emotion, memory, and visual processes for schizophrenia. Moreover, abnormal hemispheric asymmetry of nodal efficiency was significantly correlated with the symptom of the patients. Our finding indicated that the hemispheric WM lateralization of intra- and inter-hemispheric connections could serve as a potential imaging biomarker for schizophrenia.

半球偏侧化是人脑的一个突出特征，并植根于半球内和半球间白质（WM）连接。但是，尚不清楚在精神分裂症中涉及半球内和半球间WM连接的半球偏侧化的破坏。因此，对半球内和半球间WM连接的半球侧向化的定量测量可以为精神分裂症提供新的见解。这项工作对50例患者和58例匹配的健康对照者进行了扩散张量成像。利用图论，计算了半球内和半球之间网络的整体效率和节点效率。我们发现，相对于健康对照组，精神分裂症患者的半球网络整体和淋巴结转移效率均显着降低。特别，在精神分裂症的额叶和颞叶区域发现了半球内整合和半球间通讯的缺陷。我们还发现与精神分裂症的情绪，记忆和视觉过程相关的大脑区域中的半球不对称性受到破坏。此外，淋巴结效率的半球异常与患者的症状显着相关。我们的发现表明，半球内和半球间连接的半球WM侧向化可以作为精神分裂症的潜在成像生物标志物。节点效率的异常半球不对称与患者的症状显着相关。我们的发现表明，半球内和半球间连接的半球WM侧向化可以作为精神分裂症的潜在成像生物标志物。节点效率的异常半球不对称与患者的症状显着相关。我们的发现表明，半球内和半球间连接的半球WM侧向化可以作为精神分裂症的潜在成像生物标志物。