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Prefrontal cortex activity in people with schizophrenia and control subjects

Evidence from positron emission tomography for remission of ‘hypofrontality’ with recovery from acute schizophrenia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 January 2018

Sean A. Spence ,
Steven R. Hirsch ,
David J. Brooks  and
Paul M. Grasby
Sean A. Spence*
Affiliation:
Imperial College School of Medicine, MRC Cyclotron Unit
Steven R. Hirsch
Affiliation:
Imperial College School of Medicine, Academic Department of Psychiatry, Charing Cross Hospital
David J. Brooks
Affiliation:
Imperial College School of Medicine, MRC Cyclotron Unit
Paul M. Grasby
Affiliation:
Imperial College School of Medicine, MRC Cyclotron Unit
*
Dr Sean Spence, Imperial College School of Medicine, MRC Cyclotron Unit, Hammersmith Hospital, Du Cane Road, London W12 ONN; e-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Background

Hypo-activation of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is inconsistently found in neuroimaging studies of schizophrenia. As the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is involved in the generation of action, disordered function in this region may be implicated in schizophrenic symptomatology.

Method

We used H215O positron emission tomography to study dorsolateral prefrontal cortical function in men with schizophrenia (n=13) and male control subjects (n=6) performing joystick movements on two occasions, 4–6 weeks apart. The patients were initially in relapse. To clarify dorsolateral prefrontal cortical function we also scanned another group of control subjects (n=5) performing mouth movements.

Results

The control subjects performing hand or mouth movements activated the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex to a maximum when the movements were self-selected. The men with relapsed schizophrenia exhibited left dorsolateral prefrontal cortical hypo-activation, which remitted with symptomatic improvement.

Conclusions

Hypofrontality in these patients is a dynamic phenomenon across time, possibly related to current symptomatology. The most appropriate question about the presence of hypofrontality in schizophrenia may be when, rather than whether, it will occur.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 172 , Issue 4 , April 1998 , pp. 316 - 323
Copyright
Copyright © 1998 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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Footnotes

∗.

S.A.S. was one of the recipients of the Royal College of Psychiatrists Research Prize and Bronze Medal 1997 for an extended version of this paper.

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