TY - JOUR
T1 - Correlations between sadness-induced cerebral activations and schizophrenia symptoms
T2 - An fMRI study of sex differences
AU - Mendrek, A.
AU - Jiménez, J. A.
AU - Mancini-Marïe, A.
AU - Fahim, C.
AU - Stip, E.
PY - 2011/7
Y1 - 2011/7
N2 - Background: The functional neuroimaging studies of emotion processing in schizophrenia have revealed variable results attributed partly to differential symptomatology and sex of tested patients. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between cerebral activations during exposure to emotional material and schizophrenia symptoms in men versus women. Method: Fifteen men and 10 women with schizophrenia, equivalent in terms of age, medication and experienced symptomatology, underwent functional MRI during viewing sad and neutral film excerpts. Data were analyzed using Statistical Parametric Mapping Software (SPM2). Results: Across all the patients there was a significant inverse relationship between negative symptoms and activations in the right prefrontal cortex during processing of sad versus neutral stimuli. In men, activations during sad versus neutral stimuli in the prefrontal, temporal and anterior cingulate cortex, as well as the caudate and cerebellum, were positively correlated with negative symptoms. In women, there were inverse correlations between positive symptoms and activations in the hippocampus, parietal and occipital cortex during the same condition. Conclusion: Present results confirmed association of prefrontal hypofunction with negative symptoms in schizophrenia. More interestingly, the results revealed a diametrically different pattern of symptom-correlated brain activity in men and women with schizophrenia, suggesting that the processing of sadness is mediated via neurophysiological mechanism related to negative symptoms in men and the mechanism related to positive symptoms in women.
AB - Background: The functional neuroimaging studies of emotion processing in schizophrenia have revealed variable results attributed partly to differential symptomatology and sex of tested patients. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between cerebral activations during exposure to emotional material and schizophrenia symptoms in men versus women. Method: Fifteen men and 10 women with schizophrenia, equivalent in terms of age, medication and experienced symptomatology, underwent functional MRI during viewing sad and neutral film excerpts. Data were analyzed using Statistical Parametric Mapping Software (SPM2). Results: Across all the patients there was a significant inverse relationship between negative symptoms and activations in the right prefrontal cortex during processing of sad versus neutral stimuli. In men, activations during sad versus neutral stimuli in the prefrontal, temporal and anterior cingulate cortex, as well as the caudate and cerebellum, were positively correlated with negative symptoms. In women, there were inverse correlations between positive symptoms and activations in the hippocampus, parietal and occipital cortex during the same condition. Conclusion: Present results confirmed association of prefrontal hypofunction with negative symptoms in schizophrenia. More interestingly, the results revealed a diametrically different pattern of symptom-correlated brain activity in men and women with schizophrenia, suggesting that the processing of sadness is mediated via neurophysiological mechanism related to negative symptoms in men and the mechanism related to positive symptoms in women.
KW - Emotion processing
KW - FMRI
KW - Positive and negative symptoms
KW - Schizophrenia
KW - Sex differences
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U2 - 10.1016/j.eurpsy.2010.04.007
DO - 10.1016/j.eurpsy.2010.04.007
M3 - Article
C2 - 20620024
AN - SCOPUS:79960466634
SN - 0924-9338
VL - 26
SP - 320
EP - 326
JO - European Psychiatry
JF - European Psychiatry
IS - 5
ER -
