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Published on: December 2, 2015
Increased and sex-differentiated medial prefrontal cortex activation during the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery
Guangpu Zhu1, Hui Zhang2, Xiaojie Wei1
1Key Laboratory of Spectral Imaging Technology, Xi'an Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an 710119, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China; Key Laboratory of Biomedical Spectroscopy of Xi'an, Xi'an Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an 710119, China.
Abstract:
Executive impairment in schizophrenia is common, but the mechanism remains unclear. This is the first study to use simultaneously functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to monitor the hemodynamic response in schizophrenia during the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB). Here, we monitored relative changes in oxyhemoglobin concentration in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) during Trail Making Test, Symbol Coding Test and Mazes Test of the MCCB in 63 patients (29 females) with schizophrenia and 32 healthy controls (15 females). Results showed that patients with schizophrenia scored lower than healthy controls on all three tests (P < 0.001), but mPFC activation was significantly higher during the test (P < 0.03). Higher activation of the mPFC may reflect abnormal information processing in schizophrenia. In addition, the results also showed sex differences in hemodynamic activation during the task in patients with schizophrenia, and fNIRS has the potential to be a clinical adjunct to screening for cognitive function in schizophrenia.
