Regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) during the resting state was measured using the '%e inhalation technique in 39 patients diagnosed as having schizophrenic disorder according to the DSM-I11 criteria and 30 age-and sex-matched healthy volunteers. All the patients were receiving neuroleptic medication. The bilateral hemispheric mean flow values in the schizophrenic patients decreased significantly and the relative flow distribution reduced significantly only in the left frontal region compared to the controls. The lower the left frontal blood flow in schizophrenics, the more pronounced were the negative symptoms including blunted aflect, avolition-apathy and inattention. These results suggest that the negative symptoms in schizophrenics are related to left frontal lobe dysfunction.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.