Primary research

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of attention processes in presumed obligate carriers of schizophrenia: preliminary findings

Francesca Mapua Filbey^1,3 , Tamara Russell² , Robin G Morris² , Robin M Murray³ and Colm McDonald^2,4

¹The Mind Research Network, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

²Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College, London, UK

³Department of Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College, London, UK

⁴Department of Psychiatry, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland

author email corresponding author email

Annals of General Psychiatry 2008, 7:18doi:10.1186/1744-859X-7-18

Published:	3 October 2008

Abstract

Background

Presumed obligate carriers (POCs) are the first-degree relatives of people with schizophrenia who, although do not exhibit the disorder, are in direct lineage of it. Thus, this subpopulation of first-degree relatives could provide very important information with regard to the investigation of endophenotypes for schizophrenia that could clarify the often contradictory findings in schizophrenia high-risk populations. To date, despite the extant literature on schizophrenia endophenotypes, we are only aware of one other study that examined the neural mechanisms that underlie cognitive abnormalities in this group. The aim of this study was to investigate whether a more homogeneous group of relatives, such as POCs, have neural abnormalities that may be related to schizophrenia.

Methods

We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to collect blood oxygenated level dependent (BOLD) response data in six POCs and eight unrelated healthy controls while performing under conditions of sustained, selective and divided attention.

Results

The POCs indicated alterations in a widely distributed network of regions involved in attention processes, such as the prefrontal and temporal (including the parahippocampal gyrus) cortices, in addition to the anterior cingulate gyrus. More specifically, a general reduction in BOLD response was found in these areas compared to the healthy participants during attention processes.

Conclusion

These preliminary findings of decreased activity in POCs indicate that this more homogeneous population of unaffected relatives share similar neural abnormalities with people with schizophrenia, suggesting that reduced BOLD activity in the attention network may be an intermediate marker for schizophrenia.