Capturing spontaneous activity in the medial prefrontal cortex using near-infrared spectroscopy and its application to schizophrenia

Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is an optimal imaging modality used to examine spontaneous brain activity because it can quietly measure blood flow changes with less physical restriction during the resting state. Here, NIRS was used at rest to measure spontaneous activity in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), a main locus of default mode network. Consistent with previous fMRI studies, magnitude of the spontaneous activity in this region declined with increasing age in healthy subjects. The magnitude reduced in the mPFC of patients with schizophrenia. Additionally, in the mPFC of patients with schizophrenia, the spontaneous activity did not show any age-related decline; the activity was already low in younger patients. Further analysis using fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations confirmed the reduction of spontaneous activity in the mPFC of patients with schizophrenia, consistent with the findings of fMRI studies. Our findings demonstrate the ability of NIRS to evaluate the spontaneous activity in the mPFC of patients with schizophrenia, particularly younger patients. Considering the safety and ease of the NIRS measurements, the current NIRS study of the resting-state activity indicates its utility for clinical applications to schizophrenia, which may facilitate chronological assessment of larger cohorts of patients with schizophrenia in further studies.