title: Association between social functioning and prefrontal hemodynamic responses in elderly adults.
abstract: Social functioning has received widespread attention as one of the most important outcomes in psychiatric disorders and has been related to cognitive functioning and the underlying brain activity. Cognitive decline, however, appears not only in the psychiatric population but also in aged individuals. In our previous study, we demonstrated a significant relationship between social functioning and prefrontal cortex (PFC) activity in patients with depression. However, it has not been shown whether the above relationship could be extended to healthy populations. The purpose of the present study was to investigate a possible association between social functioning and prefrontal hemodynamic responses in healthy elderly adults by using a non-invasive and low-constraint functional neuroimaging technique, near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). Study subjects included 55 healthy, elderly volunteers. We measured hemodynamic responses over prefrontal cortical (PFC) areas during the verbal fluency task by using multi-channel NIRS and analyzed the relationship between task-associated hemodynamic responses and social functioning as measured by the social adaptation self-evaluation scale (SASS). A significant positive relationship was observed between the SASS total score and PFC activation. Our findings suggest that PFC activation is associated with social functioning in healthy elderly adults. Furthermore, hemodynamic responses assessed using non-invasive NIRS could be a useful biological marker of these characteristics.
authors.affiliation: Division of Neuropsychiatry, Department of Brain and Neuroscience, Tottori University Faculty of Medicine, 36-1 Nishi-cho, Yonago, Tottori 683-8504, Japan. Electronic address: pshh0517@yahoo.co.jp.
authors.forename: Shenghong
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pu
authors.affiliation: National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, 4-1-1 Ogawa-Higashi, Kodaira, Tokyo 187-8551, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazuyuki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakagome
authors.affiliation: Division of Neuropsychiatry, Department of Brain and Neuroscience, Tottori University Faculty of Medicine, 36-1 Nishi-cho, Yonago, Tottori 683-8504, Japan.
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.affiliation: Division of Neuropsychiatry, Department of Brain and Neuroscience, Tottori University Faculty of Medicine, 36-1 Nishi-cho, Yonago, Tottori 683-8504, Japan.
authors.forename: Katsutoshi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yokoyama
authors.affiliation: Division of Neuropsychiatry, Department of Brain and Neuroscience, Tottori University Faculty of Medicine, 36-1 Nishi-cho, Yonago, Tottori 683-8504, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Matsumura
authors.affiliation: Division of Technical Support, Tottori University Faculty of Medicine, 36-1 Nishi-cho, Yonago, Tottori 683-8504, Japan.
authors.forename: Hideaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mitani
authors.affiliation: Division of Technical Support, Tottori University Faculty of Medicine, 36-1 Nishi-cho, Yonago, Tottori 683-8504, Japan.
authors.forename: Akiko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Adachi
authors.affiliation: Division of Neuropsychiatry, Department of Brain and Neuroscience, Tottori University Faculty of Medicine, 36-1 Nishi-cho, Yonago, Tottori 683-8504, Japan.
authors.forename: Koichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kaneko
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological / Q000502:physiology; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation / Q000502:physiology; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006439:Hemodynamics / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D057566:Self Report; D012919:Social Behavior; D019265:Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared; D013060:Speech / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Elderly adult; Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS); Prefrontal cortical (PFC); Social adaptation self-evaluation scale (SASS); Social functioning; Verbal fluency task (VFT)