Shared functional impairment in the prefrontal cortex affects symptom severity across psychiatric disorders

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychiatry
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Prefrontal cortex (PFC) deficits are common in psychiatric disorders.
• Previous functional neuroimaging studies have not comprehensively examined these deficits across multiple disorders while controlling for confounders.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate shared and disorder-specific prefrontal functional characteristics across schizophrenia, bipolar disorder (BPD), and major depressive disorder (MDD).
• To examine the relationship between prefrontal brain activity and clinical/demographic variables.

Main Methods:

• Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) was used during a verbal fluency task in 1200 participants (369 healthy controls, 196 schizophrenia, 189 BPD, 394 MDD).
• General linear mixed models (GLMM) analyzed associations between brain function and demographic/clinical variables.
• Structural equation models (SEMs) estimated the relationship between brain activity and symptom severity.

Main Results:

• A shared prefrontal functional deficit was observed across the disorders.
• Schizophrenia showed a specific delayed prefrontal activity timing.
• Brain activity in specific regions correlated with global functioning scores in BPD and MDD.

Conclusions:

• This large-scale neuroimaging study demonstrates a significant link between prefrontal function and behavioral outcomes in major psychiatric disorders.
• Findings highlight both common and distinct neural underpinnings across these conditions.