Wayne State University, Detroit Michigan, USA.
Schizophr Res. 2011 Aug;130(1-3):101-5. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2011.05.025.
Smaller Superior Temporal Gyrus (STG) and reduced activation with language tasks have been found in schizophrenia emphasizing the involvement of parts of language network. Recently, we reported smaller STG in individuals at risk for psychosis. In this study, we examined the brain activation for auditory comprehension using fMRI in a group of young offspring of schizophrenia patients (HR) with a hypothesis that HR subjects will not activate STG as well as comparison subjects.
Fifteen HR (7M, 8F, mean age 15.9±3.1) and 17 comparison subjects (9M and 8F, mean age 14.5±3.5) participated. BOLD fMRI images were obtained using a 4 Tesla scanner with a multi echo-planar imaging sequence. The participants were asked to listen to 30 sec blocks of a story alternated with blocks of the same reading played backwards. The data were analyzed using Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM5) and a BOLD activation exceeding a threshold of T>2.58 (p<0.01, uncorrected) was considered significant.
The HR showed significantly lower BOLD activation at the STG bilaterally compared to normal controls (left STG; x=-64, y=-48, z=12, Z=2.95, right STG; x=62, y=-50, z=-16, Z=2.77). The effect was more pronounced in males and on left STG.
These data suggest that adolescents at risk for schizophrenia show reduced activation of the STG compared to control subjects during a language related task (listening). This finding adds support to the idea that abnormal development of the language related cortex is a marker of increased susceptibility to schizophrenia and that such deviant development may be mediated by familial/genetic factors.
在精神分裂症患者中发现较小的颞上回（STG）和语言任务时的激活减少，强调了语言网络部分的参与。最近，我们报告了处于精神病风险中的个体的 STG 较小。在这项研究中，我们使用 fMRI 检查了一组精神分裂症患者的年轻后代（HR）的听觉理解的大脑激活，假设 HR 受试者的 STG 不会像对照受试者那样激活。
15 名 HR（7M，8F，平均年龄 15.9±3.1）和 17 名对照受试者（9M 和 8F，平均年龄 14.5±3.5）参加了研究。使用具有多回波平面成像序列的 4T 扫描仪获得 BOLD fMRI 图像。要求参与者听 30 秒的故事块，然后听以相反顺序播放的相同阅读块。使用统计参数映射（SPM5）分析数据，并且 BOLD 激活超过 T>2.58（未校正，p<0.01）的阈值被认为是显著的。
HR 双侧 STG 的 BOLD 激活明显低于正常对照组（左 STG；x=-64，y=-48，z=12，Z=2.95，右 STG；x=62，y=-50，z=-16，Z=2.77）。男性和左侧 STG 的效果更为明显。
这些数据表明，与对照受试者相比，处于精神分裂症风险中的青少年在与语言相关的任务（听）期间显示出 STG 的激活减少。这一发现为异常的语言相关皮质发育是增加精神分裂症易感性的标志物的观点提供了支持，并且这种异常发育可能由家族/遗传因素介导。
