In vivo occipital–frontal temperature-gradient in schizophrenia patients and its possible association with psychopathology: A magnetic resonance spectroscopy study

Abstract

Background: Accumulating data suggest that schizophrenia patients' mental status might be modulated by their core/brain temperature. Hence, we intended to assess in vivo brain temperature ( T b) of schizophrenia patients vs. healthy subjects and to evaluate its potential association with patients' mental status. Methods: Absolute values of T b were measured in 9 neuroleptic-treated schizophrenia patients and 10 healthy comparison subjects using 1H magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). Values were extracted by measuring the chemical shift between the peaks of water and N-acetyl-aspartate in the 1H MRS spectra. Results: A substantial (about 1.1 °C) and significantly higher occipital–frontal temperature-gradient was found in the schizophrenia patients compared to the healthy controls (1.27 °C vs. 0.18 °C; p = 0.032). Furthermore, a trend was found between the above mentioned occipital–frontal temperature-gradient in the schizophrenia patients and the severity of their psychopathology, as assessed by the total Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) scores ( r = 0.61; p = 0.08). Conclusions: Our findings corroborate previous results indicating putative correlation between core/brain temperature and the mental status of schizophrenia patients, emphasizing the possible role of within patients decreased frontal temperature and a significant occipital–frontal temperature-gradient as modulators of psychopathology. In addition, the MRS technique used for brain temperature assessment seems to be a potential non-invasive method to assess in vivo absolute T b in schizophrenia.