Pathophysiology
In SPD subjects, increased activation was observed in the STG, specifically Brodmann Areas 41 and 42, in response to pitch and duration deviants compared to controls [PMID:18555666].
In contrast to findings in schizophrenia, this PET study [PMID:24781514] found no significant alterations in prefrontal D1 receptor availability in individuals with schizotypal personality disorder compared to healthy controls.
Clinical Presentation
Exploratory findings suggest a correlation between heightened right STG activation to pitch deviants and impaired verbal learning and odd speech characteristics in SPD patients [PMID:18555666].
The study [PMID:24781514] indicates that increased D1 receptor availability in the medial prefrontal cortex correlates with worse performance on the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT), a measure of working memory.
Diagnosis
The study indicates that SPD subjects show distinct patterns of fMRI activation in response to auditory deviants, suggesting fMRI could be a useful diagnostic tool [PMID:18555666].
While not diagnostic, the findings [PMID:24781514] suggest that assessing working memory performance and potentially related neurobiological markers like D1 receptor binding could provide insights into SPD, though further research is needed for clinical utility.
References
1 Dickey CC, Morocz IA, Niznikiewicz MA, Voglmaier M, Toner S, Khan U et al.. Auditory processing abnormalities in schizotypal personality disorder: an fMRI experiment using tones of deviant pitch and duration. Schizophrenia research 2008. link 2 Thompson JL, Rosell DR, Slifstein M, Girgis RR, Xu X, Ehrlich Y et al.. Prefrontal dopamine D1 receptors and working memory in schizotypal personality disorder: a PET study with [¹¹C]NNC112. Psychopharmacology 2014. link
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