Abstract
Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is a non-invasive measurement of brain function with indices of real-time simultaneous monitoring of hemoglobin oxygenation state of blood near the cortical surface. Frontal lobe dysfunction in schizophrenic patients has been reported by many researchers. We investigated the frontal lobe function in schizophrenia during a Mirror Drawing Task (MDT). A total of 15 schizophrenic patients and 15 controls were examined. All subjects and controls were right-handed. Two 1-channel NIRS systems were used. A light-guide and detector were placed on each side of the frontal region. Oxy-hemoglobin, deoxy-hemoglobin and total hemoglobin were measured approximately each second. A MDT was performed three times. t-Values were calculated by a paired t-test between the average concentration of oxy-hemoglobin for one minute before MDT and each sampling point during MDT. The grand averages of the concentration of oxy-hemoglobin in controls increased in the bilateral frontal regions during the second and third trials; there was no change in the schizophrenic patients. These findings should support the “hypofrontality” hypothesis concerning schizophrenic patients. It is considered that NIRS is useful and an “easy to use” tool to study the brain dysfunction in various mental disorders.
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