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Failure to deactivate in the prefrontal cortex in schizophrenia: dysfunction of the default mode network?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 May 2008

E. Pomarol-Clotet ,
R. Salvador ,
S. Sarró ,
J. Gomar ,
F. Vila ,
Á. Martínez ,
A. Guerrero ,
J. Ortiz-Gil ,
B. Sans-Sansa  and
A. Capdevila
...Show all authors
E. Pomarol-Clotet*
Affiliation:
Benito Menni Complex Assistencial en Salut Mental, Barcelona, Spain Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSam), Spain
R. Salvador
Affiliation:
Benito Menni Complex Assistencial en Salut Mental, Barcelona, Spain Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSam), Spain Fundació Sant Joan de Déu, Barcelona, Spain
S. Sarró
Affiliation:
Benito Menni Complex Assistencial en Salut Mental, Barcelona, Spain Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSam), Spain Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology Programme, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
J. Gomar
Affiliation:
Benito Menni Complex Assistencial en Salut Mental, Barcelona, Spain Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSam), Spain
F. Vila
Affiliation:
Fundació Sant Joan de Déu, Barcelona, Spain
Á. Martínez
Affiliation:
Fundació Sant Joan de Déu, Barcelona, Spain
A. Guerrero
Affiliation:
Benito Menni Complex Assistencial en Salut Mental, Barcelona, Spain
J. Ortiz-Gil
Affiliation:
Benito Menni Complex Assistencial en Salut Mental, Barcelona, Spain
B. Sans-Sansa
Affiliation:
Benito Menni Complex Assistencial en Salut Mental, Barcelona, Spain
A. Capdevila
Affiliation:
Fundació Sant Joan de Déu, Barcelona, Spain
J. M. Cebamanos
Affiliation:
Benito Menni Complex Assistencial en Salut Mental, Barcelona, Spain
P. J. McKenna
Affiliation:
Benito Menni Complex Assistencial en Salut Mental, Barcelona, Spain Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSam), Spain Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Glasgow, Gartnavel Royal Hospital, UK
*
*Address for correspondence: E. Pomarol-Clotet, M.D., Ph.D., Benito Menni Complex Assistencial en Salut Mental, Barcelona, Spain. (Email: edith.pomarol@gmail.com)
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Abstract

Background

Functional imaging studies using working memory tasks have documented both prefrontal cortex (PFC) hypo- and hyperactivation in schizophrenia. However, these studies have often failed to consider the potential role of task-related deactivation.

Method

Thirty-two patients with chronic schizophrenia and 32 age- and sex-matched normal controls underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning while performing baseline, 1-back and 2-back versions of the n-back task. Linear models were used to obtain maps of activations and deactivations in the groups.

Results

The controls showed activation in the expected frontal regions. There were also clusters of deactivation, particularly in the anterior cingulate/ventromedial PFC and the posterior cingulate cortex/precuneus. Compared to the controls, the schizophrenic patients showed reduced activation in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and other frontal areas. There was also an area in the anterior cingulate/ventromedial PFC where the patients showed apparently greater activation than the controls. This represented a failure of deactivation in the schizophrenic patients. Failure to activate was a function of the patients' impaired performance on the n-back task, whereas the failure to deactivate was less performance dependent.

Conclusions

Patients with schizophrenia show both failure to activate and failure to deactivate during performance of a working memory task. The area of failure of deactivation is in the anterior prefrontal/anterior cingulate cortex and corresponds to one of the two midline components of the ‘default mode network’ implicated in functions related to maintaining one's sense of self.

Keywords

Default mode networkfMRIprefrontal cortexschizophreniaworking memory
Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 38 , Issue 8 , August 2008 , pp. 1185 - 1193
Copyright
Copyright © 2008 Cambridge University Press

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