Resting-state Cerebral Blood Flow Research Articles

Reduction of cerebral blood flow in chronic schizophrenia: relation to age.

The effect of age on resting-state cerebral blood flow (CBF) was studied in 40 medicated patients with chronic schizophrenia aged 20 to 57 and 32 age- and sex-matched normal controls, using the regional CBF with the xenon-133 inhalation technique. Global CBF (average of 16 cerebral regions) and the left prefrontal flow ratio (left prefrontal/global CBF) were significantly lower in schizophrenics aged 20-29 than in age-matched controls. Both global CBF and the left prefrontal flow ratio correlated with age in controls, but neither of such correlations was found in schizophrenics. Therefore, the CBF deficits in chronic schizophrenia appear to be unaffected by the aging process.

Comparison of mania and depression after brain injury: causal factors.

Patients who developed secondary mania after brain injury (N = 17) had a significantly greater frequency of injury to right hemisphere areas connected with the limbic system than poststroke patients with major depression (N = 31), who had injury primarily in the left frontal cortex and basal ganglia. For patients without mood disturbance after brain injury (N = 28), the location of the lesion was not significant. Secondary mania patients also had a significantly greater frequency of family history of affective disorder than did the other two groups. These results suggest that an interaction between injury to certain areas of the right hemisphere and genetic factors or other neuropathological conditions produces secondary mania.