J Korean Med Sci.  2015 May;30(5):625-631. 10.3346/jkms.2015.30.5.625.

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Motor Cortex Activation in Schizophrenia

• Lee HJ
• Preda A
• Ford JM
• Mathalon D
• Keator DB
• van Erp TG
• Turner JA
• Potkin SG

• KMID: 2155477
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2015.30.5.625

Abstract

Previous fMRI studies of sensorimotor activation in schizophrenia have found in some cases hypoactivity, no difference, or hyperactivity when comparing patients with controls; similar disagreement exists in studies of motor laterality. In this multi-site fMRI study of a sensorimotor task in individuals with chronic schizophrenia and matched healthy controls, subjects responded with a right-handed finger press to an irregularly flashing visual checker board. The analysis includes eighty-five subjects with schizophrenia diagnosed according to the DSM-IV criteria and eighty-six healthy volunteer subjects. Voxel-wise statistical parametric maps were generated for each subject and analyzed for group differences; the percent Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent (BOLD) signal changes were also calculated over predefined anatomical regions of the primary sensory, motor, and visual cortex. Both healthy controls and subjects with schizophrenia showed strongly lateralized activation in the precentral gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus, and inferior parietal lobule, and strong activations in the visual cortex. There were no significant differences between subjects with schizophrenia and controls in this multi-site fMRI study. Furthermore, there was no significant difference in laterality found between healthy controls and schizophrenic subjects. This study can serve as a baseline measurement of schizophrenic dysfunction in other cognitive processes.

Keyword

Motor Cortex; Schizophrenia; Motor Dysfunction; Functional MRI; Laterality Quotient; Power Analysis

MeSH Terms

Adult
Aged
Brain Mapping
Case-Control Studies
Female
Healthy Volunteers
Humans
*Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Middle Aged
Motor Cortex/anatomy & histology/*radiography
Schizophrenia/*diagnosis
Visual Cortex/anatomy & histology/radiography
Young Adult

Figure

• 

  Fig. 1 Statistical parametric mapping of (A) HV and (B) SZ during the finger-tapping task, overlaid on a standard cortical surface. Red areas denote activated voxels (Z > 2.3). HV, healthy volunteer; SZ, schizophrenia.

• 

  Fig. 2 Percent BOLD signal change over sensorimotor cortex (BA 1-4) in the left hemisphere (A) and right hemisphere (B) for each site and subject group. Error bars show one standard error of mean values. The differences between SZ and HV data are not significant at any site. LH, left hemisphere; RH, right hemisphere.

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