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ABSTRACT: Background
Dysregulations of the major inhibitory and excitatory amino neurotransmitter systems of ?-aminobutyric acid and glutamate, respectively, have been described in patients with schizophrenia. However, it is unclear whether these abnormalities are present in subjects at ultra-high risk for psychosis.Methods
Twenty-three antipsychotic naïve subjects at ultra-high risk and 24 healthy control subjects, matched for age, sex, handedness, cigarette smoking, and parental education, underwent proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy scans in the dorsal caudate bilaterally and the medial prefrontal cortex at 3T. Levels of ?-aminobutyric acid and of the combined resonance of glutamate and glutamine (Glx) were obtained using the standard J-editing technique and expressed as peak area ratios relative to the synchronously acquired unsuppressed voxel water signal.Results
Higher levels of ?-aminobutyric acid (P<.001) and Glx (P=.007) were found in the dorsal caudate of the subjects at ultra-high risk than in the healthy controls. In the medial prefrontal cortex, likewise, both ?-aminobutyric acid (P=.03) and Glx (P=.006) levels were higher in the ultra-high risk group than in the healthy controls. No group differences were found for any of the other metabolites (N-acetylaspartate, total choline, or total creatine) in the 2 regions of interest.Conclusions
This study presents the first evidence of abnormal elevations, in subjects at ultra-high risk, of ?-aminobutyric acid and Glx in 2 brain regions that have been implicated in the pathophysiology of psychosis, warranting longitudinal studies to assess whether these neurotransmitter abnormalities can serve as noninvasive biomarkers of conversion risk to psychosis as well as of illness progression and treatment response.
SUBMITTER: de la Fuente-Sandoval C
PROVIDER: S-EPMC4815472 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Sep
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
The international journal of neuropsychopharmacology 20150912 3
<h4>Background</h4>Dysregulations of the major inhibitory and excitatory amino neurotransmitter systems of γ-aminobutyric acid and glutamate, respectively, have been described in patients with schizophrenia. However, it is unclear whether these abnormalities are present in subjects at ultra-high risk for psychosis.<h4>Methods</h4>Twenty-three antipsychotic naïve subjects at ultra-high risk and 24 healthy control subjects, matched for age, sex, handedness, cigarette smoking, and parental educatio ...[more]