Physiological dysfunction of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in schizophrenia. IV. Further evidence for regional and behavioral specificity

Journal Article · Fri Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 1988 · Arch. Gen. Psychiatr.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1001/archpsyc.1988.01800310020002· OSTI ID:6856982

Berman, K F; Illowsky, B P; Weinberger, D R

In previous studies we found that patients with chronic schizophrenia had lower regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) than did normal subjects during performance of the Wisconsin Card Sort Test, an abstract reasoning task linked to DLPFC function. This was not the case during less complex tasks. To examine further whether this finding represented regionally circumscribed pathophysiology or a more general correlate of abstract cognition, 24 medication-free patients and 25 age- and sex-matched normal control subjects underwent rCBF measurements with the xenon 133 technique while they performed two tasks: Raven's Progressive Matrices (RPM) and an active baseline control task. While performing RPM, normal subjects activated posterior cortical areas over baseline, but did not activate DLPFC, as had been seen during the Wisconsin Card Sort Test. Like normal subjects, patients showed maximal rCBF elevations posteriorly and, moreover, they had no significant DLPFC or other cortical deficit while performing RPM. These results suggest that DLPFC dysfunction in schizophrenia is linked to pathophysiology of a regionally specific neural system rather than to global cortical dysfunction, and that this pathophysiology is most apparent under prefrontally specific cognitive demand.

• OSTI ID: 6856982
• Journal Information: Arch. Gen. Psychiatr.; (United States), Vol. 45:7
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
CEREBRAL CORTEX
BLOOD FLOW
NERVOUS SYSTEM DISEASES
PATHOGENESIS
BEHAVIOR
DOPAMINE
MENTAL DISORDERS
PATIENTS
TRACER TECHNIQUES
XENON 133
AMINES
AROMATICS
AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM AGENTS
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BODY
BRAIN
CARDIOTONICS
CARDIOVASCULAR AGENTS
CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM
CEREBRUM
DAYS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
DISEASES
DRUGS
EVEN-ODD NUCLEI
HYDROXY COMPOUNDS
INTERMEDIATE MASS NUCLEI
INTERNAL CONVERSION RADIOISOTOPES
ISOMERIC TRANSITION ISOTOPES
ISOTOPE APPLICATIONS
ISOTOPES
NERVOUS SYSTEM
NEUROREGULATORS
NUCLEI
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANS
PHENOLS
POLYPHENOLS
RADIOISOTOPES
SYMPATHOMIMETICS
XENON ISOTOPES
550901* - Pathology- Tracer Techniques