Hypermetabolic pattern in frontal cortex and other brain regions in unmedicated schizophrenia patients

We report results of a FDG–PET study in 10 patients with schizophrenia (6 unmedicated, 4 never medicated) and 12 healthy age–matched controls. The patients met ICD–10 and DSM–IV criteria for schizophrenia and all reported psychotic, "positive" symptoms when tested. Schizophrenic patients had higher absolute CMRGlu values in almost all quantified regions compared to normal subjects. Using the occipital cortex as the reference region patients showed a hyperfrontal metabolic pattern. Other significant regional differences were found with respect to thalamus, striatum and temporal cortex. The finding of a hyperfrontality in un– and never medicated psychotic schizophrenic patients must be discussed in the light of the psychopathological symptoms of patients when tested, a possible disruption of cortico–striato–thalamic feedback loops and recent findings of a hyperfrontality in experimentally induced psychosis (ketamine– and psilocybin–model of schizophrenia).