Abstract:
Background: Cognitive dysfunction is a common clinical feature of mental disorders. A number of functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) studies have shown reduced prefrontal activation during the verbal fluency task (VFT) in schizophrenia (SZ) and major depressive disorder (MDD). However, no studies have examined and compared the brain activation patterns during the Tower of London (TOL), which is another classic, high-sensitivity executive function testing tool, in these two serious mental disorders. This study aimed to assess the characteristics of brain activation during the two different cognitive tasks in SZ and MDD patients. Methods: This study recruited 30 patients with SZ, 30 patients with MDD, and 30 demographically matched healthy controls (HCs). The hemodynamic changes of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) were measured using 32-channel fNIRS during performance of the TOL task and VFT task. Results: SZ patients showed poorer VFT performance than MDD patients and HCs, and the two patient groups showed poorer TOL performance than HCs. Compared to HCs, both of the patient groups exhibited a significant decreased activation in the extensive PFC. Particularly in certain channels in the dorsolateral PFC (DLPFC), SZ patients exhibited significantly decreased hemodynamic changes than the MDD patients. Conclusions: Patients with SZ and MDD have different levels of impairment in different cognitive domains and different patterns of brain activation during the two cognitive tasks. Further research is needed to determine the use of fNIRS for clinical evaluation and diagnosis.
摘要:
背景:认知功能障碍是精神障碍的常见临床特征。许多功能近红外光谱(fNIRS)研究表明,精神分裂症(SZ)和重度抑郁症(MDD)的言语流畅性任务(VFT)期间前额叶激活减少。然而,没有研究检查和比较伦敦塔(TOL)期间的大脑激活模式,这是另一个经典,高灵敏度执行功能测试工具,这两种严重的精神障碍。这项研究旨在评估SZ和MDD患者在两种不同认知任务期间的大脑激活特征。方法:本研究招募了30例SZ患者,30例MDD患者,和30名人口统计学匹配的健康对照(HCs)。在执行TOL任务和VFT任务期间,使用32通道fNIRS测量前额叶皮层(PFC)的血液动力学变化。结果:SZ患者的VFT表现比MDD患者和HC患者差,两组患者的TOL表现低于HC。与HC相比,两组患者在广泛性PFC中的激活均显著降低.特别是在背外侧PFC(DLPFC)的某些通道中,SZ患者的血流动力学变化明显低于MDD患者。结论:SZ和MDD患者在两种认知任务过程中,不同认知域的损害程度不同,脑激活模式不同。需要进一步的研究来确定fNIRS在临床评估和诊断中的用途。