A preliminary functional magnetic resonance imaging study in offspring of schizophrenic parents.

Studies of high-risk offspring (HR) of schizophrenic patients have found abnormalities in attention, working memory and executive functions, suggesting impaired integrity of the prefrontal cortex and related brain regions. The authors conducted a preliminary high-field (3 T) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study to assess performance and activation during a memory-guided saccade (MGS) task, which measures spatial working memory. HR subjects showed significant decreases in fMRI-measured activation in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (Brodmann's areas 8 and 9/46) and the inferior parietal cortex (Brodmann's area 40) compared to age- and sex-matched healthy controls (HC). Abnormal functional integrity of prefrontal and parietal regions of the heteromodal association cortical (HAC) regions in subjects at genetic risk for schizophrenia is consistent with findings observed in adults with the illness [Callicott et al., Cereb. Cortex 10 (2000) 1078; Manoach et al., Biol. Psychiatry 48 (2000) 99.]. These abnormalities need to be prospectively investigated in nonpsychotic individuals at risk for schizophrenia in order to determine their predictive value for eventual emergence of schizophrenia or related disorders.