TY - JOUR
T1 - Does co-morbid obsessive-compulsive disorder modify the abnormal language processing in schizophrenia patients? An fMRI study
AU - Bleich-Cohen, Maya
AU - Poyurovsky, Michael
AU - Hendler, Talma
AU - Weizman, Ronit
AU - Sharon, Haggai
PY - 2014/7/29
Y1 - 2014/7/29
N2 - Background: Impaired language processing is one of the most replicated findings in functional brain studies of schizophrenia (SCH). This is demonstrated by reduced activations in left prefrontal language areas (i.e., BA44/45, the inferior frontal gyrus, IFG) presented as decreased language lateralization. This finding was documented both in chronic as well as in first-episode SCH patients, arguing for a neurobiological marker for SCH. In a previous study, we demonstrated the specificity of this finding to SCH patients when compared to obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) patients in whom language processing was similar to healthy controls. Since a sizable proportion of SCH patients also meet DSM-IV criteria for OCD, we further sought to elucidate whether OCD attenuates abnormal prefrontal language lateralization in this unique group of schizo-obsessive patients compared to their non-OCD-SCH counterparts. Methods: We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate regional activation and language lateralization in the left and right IFG and inter-hemispheric functional connectivity (FC) during a language task of auditory verb generation in 14 SCH patients with OCD, compared to 17 SCH patients without OCD, 13 OCD patients and 14 healthy controls. Results: No between-group differences were found in the behavioral measurements of word generation. However, while OCD patients were indistinguishable from healthy volunteers, a similarly reduced lateralization in the IFG and diminished inter-hemispheric FC was noted in the two SCH groups with and without OCD. Conclusion: The co-occurrence of OCD in SCH does not attenuate abnormal processing of language as reflected by regional IFG activity and FC. These results further support the notion that these language processing abnormalities are characteristic of SCH and that SCH-OCD combined psychopathology is more akin to SCH than to OCD.
AB - Background: Impaired language processing is one of the most replicated findings in functional brain studies of schizophrenia (SCH). This is demonstrated by reduced activations in left prefrontal language areas (i.e., BA44/45, the inferior frontal gyrus, IFG) presented as decreased language lateralization. This finding was documented both in chronic as well as in first-episode SCH patients, arguing for a neurobiological marker for SCH. In a previous study, we demonstrated the specificity of this finding to SCH patients when compared to obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) patients in whom language processing was similar to healthy controls. Since a sizable proportion of SCH patients also meet DSM-IV criteria for OCD, we further sought to elucidate whether OCD attenuates abnormal prefrontal language lateralization in this unique group of schizo-obsessive patients compared to their non-OCD-SCH counterparts. Methods: We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate regional activation and language lateralization in the left and right IFG and inter-hemispheric functional connectivity (FC) during a language task of auditory verb generation in 14 SCH patients with OCD, compared to 17 SCH patients without OCD, 13 OCD patients and 14 healthy controls. Results: No between-group differences were found in the behavioral measurements of word generation. However, while OCD patients were indistinguishable from healthy volunteers, a similarly reduced lateralization in the IFG and diminished inter-hemispheric FC was noted in the two SCH groups with and without OCD. Conclusion: The co-occurrence of OCD in SCH does not attenuate abnormal processing of language as reflected by regional IFG activity and FC. These results further support the notion that these language processing abnormalities are characteristic of SCH and that SCH-OCD combined psychopathology is more akin to SCH than to OCD.
KW - FMRI
KW - Inferior frontal gyrus
KW - Language
KW - OCD
KW - Schizo-obsessive
KW - Schizophrenia
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84905189340&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3389/fnhum.2014.00560
DO - 10.3389/fnhum.2014.00560
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AN - SCOPUS:84905189340
SN - 1662-5161
VL - 8
JO - Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
JF - Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
IS - JULY
M1 - 560
ER -