Reduced prefrontal activation during Tower of London in first-episode schizophrenia: a multi-channel near-infrared spectroscopy study.
Cognitive impairments are considered as a core feature of schizophrenia and have been reported in associated with dysfunction of the prefrontal cortex (PFC). The Tower of London (TOL) task is a widely used neuropsychological test to assess the planning ability and the PFC function. In the present study, we examined functional changes in the PFC of 40 first-episode schizophrenia patients and 40 age- and gender-matched healthy controls by means of multi-channel Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) during performance of the TOL task. NIRS is a noninvasive optical method that can measure relative changes in oxygenated ([oxy-Hb]) and deoxygenated ([deoxy-Hb]) hemoglobin in cortical tissue. Compared to the healthy controls, schizophrenia patients exhibited a significant decreased activation in the left PFC and poorer TOL performance. The results confirm the functional deficits of the PFC and impaired planning ability in first-episode schizophrenia patients and suggest that NIRS may be a useful clinical tool for evaluating PFC activation in psychiatric disorders.
Zhu
Ye
Y
LIAMA Center for Computational Medicine, National Laboratory of Pattern Recognition, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, PR China.
Liu
Xuan
X
Wang
Huiling
H
Jiang
Tianzi
T
Fang
Yue
Y
Hu
Hanbin
H
Wang
Gaohua
G
Wang
Xiaoping
X
Liu
Zhongchun
Z
Zhang
Kai
K
D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006454:Hemoglobins / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010100:Oxygen / Q000378:metabolism; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D019265:Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared; D055815:Young Adult
D006454:Hemoglobins; D010100:Oxygen