Decreased cerebral activation during CPT performance: structural and functional deficits in schizophrenic patients

Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) allows the output of structural data in a Statistical Parametric Map of the brain in the same way that the SPM can do with functional data. Using functional magnetic resonance (fMR), we studied brain activation in 14 patients with schizophrenia and 14 matched normal controls. We found significant hypoactivation in patients in several regions, especially in the right hemisphere, in the dorsolateral frontal and temporal regions and in the inferior parietal. Subcortically, we found strong hypoactivity in the thalamus. The optimized VBM method revealed gray matter (GM) abnormalities in the bilateral supramarginal gyrus and cingulate cortex, and in the right inferior temporal regions. Three regions involved in attentional processes showed both structural and functional deficits: the thalamus, the anterior cingulate and the inferior parietal. The results suggest that these regions may be involved in the attentional deficit in schizophrenia.