CORRELATIONS OF PHOSPHOMONOESTERS MEASURED BY P-31 MAGNETIC-RESONANCESPECTROSCOPY IN THE FRONTAL LOBES AND NEGATIVE SYMPTOMS IN SCHIZOPHRENIA

Frontal lobe dysfunction has been linked to negative symptoms of schiz ophrenia. We used phosphorus-31 magnetic resonance spectroscopy (P-31- MRS) to examine phosphorous metabolism in frontal brain regions in 26 schizophrenic patients compared with 26 sex- and age-matched control s ubjects. The relative signal intensities of phosphorous metabolites in frontal regions did not differ significantly between schizophrenic pa tients and control subjects. However, phosphomonoester levels were sig nificantly decreased in frontal regions of 12 schizophrenic patients w ho had high scores on negative symptom subscales from the Brief Psychi atric Rating Scale (i.e., emotional withdrawal, motor retardation, and blunted affect) compared with 14 patients with low negative symptom s cores on the same subscales and control subjects. The correlations bet ween negative symptoms and phosphorous metabolism in the frontal lobes support the ''hypofrontality hypothesis'' in schizophrenia.