title: Differential spatiotemporal characteristics of the prefrontal hemodynamic response and their association with functional impairment in schizophrenia and major depression.
abstract: Recent neuroimaging studies have shown similarities and differences in prefrontal abnormalities between patients with schizophrenia (SZ) and major depressive disorder (MDD). However, the differential spatiotemporal characteristics of these abnormalities and their association with functional impairment remain unclear. To elucidate differential brain pathophysiology in these disorders, we used multichannel near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) to measure the spatiotemporal characteristics of prefrontal activation and investigated their association with global functioning levels. The study included 96 individuals: 32 patients with SZ, 32 patients with MDD, and 32 demographically matched healthy subjects. During a verbal fluency task, the changes in oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin ([oxy-Hb] and [deoxy-Hb]) signals over the prefrontal cortex (PFC) were measured using 52-channel NIRS and compared among the 3 groups. Patients with SZ and MDD showed lesser-than-normal [oxy-Hb] activation during the task, whereas the initial slope of [oxy-Hb] activation was steeper for patients with MDD than for patients with SZ. The reduced hemodynamic response was associated with lower global functioning, and the correlative regions were different between the 2 disorders (frontopolar PFC in SZ; dorsolateral and ventrolateral PFC in MDD). The hypofrontality observed in patients with SZ and MDD is consistent with the findings of previous neuroimaging studies. Moreover, the spatiotemporal characteristics and the functional significance of the prefrontal hemodynamic response could differentiate the 2 psychiatric disorders. These results suggest a differential brain pathophysiology between SZ and MDD. Future large-scale studies are needed to determine the practical applicability of these findings for clinical diagnosis and evaluation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuropsychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8655, Japan.
authors.forename: Masaru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kinou
authors.forename: Ryu
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Takizawa
authors.forename: Kohei
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Marumo
authors.forename: Shingo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kawasaki
authors.forename: Yuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kawakubo
authors.forename: Masato
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fukuda
authors.forename: Kiyoto
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kasai
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006439:Hemodynamics / Q000502:physiology*; D006454:Hemoglobins / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000378:metabolism*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D019265:Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014705:Verbal Behavior
chemical_list: D006454:Hemoglobins
keywords: Global Assessment of Functioning; Major depressive disorder; Near-infrared spectroscopy; Prefrontal cortex; Schizophrenia; Verbal fluency task