Resumen de Comparisons of verbal fluency brain correlates between adults and adolescents suffering from schizophrenia spectrum disorders: a pilot study

Sébastien Urben, Laure Jaugey, Eleonora Fornari, Pierre Magistretti, Pierre Marquer, Laurent Holzer, Pascal Vianin

• Background and Objectives:

  Prefrontal cortex (PFC) dysfunctions leading to cognitive deficits refer to a core feature of schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD). This exploratory study compares the effect of SSD on two stages of maturation of PFC.

  Methods:

  Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we measured the brain correlates related to a verbal fluency task (a hallmark executive function test) in 12 patients with SSD: 6 adolescents (SSD-ado) and 6 adults (SSD-adu).

  Results : SSD-ado showed greater activation in insula, thalamus and hIP1 whereas SSD- adu recruited more intensively precentral gyrus and temporal pole to resolve the task.

  Thus, adolescents with SSD seem to adopt less frontal mediated strategic processes. In con- trast, adults seem to be able to use PFC mediated strategy despite the well-known delete- rious effect of SSD on the PFC.

  Conclusions:

  This first exploratory study revealed that adults and adolescents with SSD seemed not to use the same strategy to resolve a verbal fluency task. Thus, despite the ill- ness, which is known to have a deleterious influence on PFC, adult patients seem to be able to recruit these resources to perform an executive function task. Further studies are need- ed in order to confirm and extend these new and preliminary results.