Dataset Information

7T Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy of the Anterior Cingulate Cortex in First-Episode Schizophrenia.

ABSTRACT: Recent magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) studies suggest that abnormalities of the glutamatergic system in schizophrenia may be dependent on illness stage, medication status, and symptomatology. Glutamatergic metabolites appear to be elevated in the prodromal and early stages of schizophrenia but unchanged or reduced below normal in chronic, medicated patients. However, few of these studies have measured metabolites with high-field 7T MR scanners, which offer higher signal-to-noise ratio and better spectral resolution than 3T scanners and facilitate separation of glutamate and glutamine into distinct signals. In this study, we examined glutamate and other metabolites in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) of first-episode schizophrenia patients. Glutamate and N-acetylaspartate (NAA) were significantly lower in schizophrenia patients vs controls. No differences were observed in levels of glutamine, GABA, or other metabolites. In schizophrenia patients but not controls, GABA was negatively correlated with the total score on the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) as well as the immediate memory and language subscales. Our findings suggest that glutamate and NAA reductions in the ACC may be present early in the illness, but additional large-scale studies are needed to confirm these results as well as longitudinal studies to determine the effect of illness progression and treatment. The correlation between GABA and cognitive function suggests that MRS may be an important technique for investigating the neurobiology underlying cognitive deficits in schizophrenia.

SUBMITTER: Reid MA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6293230 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

7T Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy of the Anterior Cingulate Cortex in First-Episode Schizophrenia.

Reid Meredith A MA Salibi Nouha N White David M DM Gawne Timothy J TJ Denney Thomas S TS Lahti Adrienne C AC

Schizophrenia bulletin 20190101 1

Recent magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) studies suggest that abnormalities of the glutamatergic system in schizophrenia may be dependent on illness stage, medication status, and symptomatology. Glutamatergic metabolites appear to be elevated in the prodromal and early stages of schizophrenia but unchanged or reduced below normal in chronic, medicated patients. However, few of these studies have measured metabolites with high-field 7T MR scanners, which offer higher signal-to-noise ratio and ...[more]

PMID: 29385594

Similar Datasets

Project description:BackgroundMitochondrial disorders are clinical syndromes associated with mutations in the mitochondrial or nuclear genome that result in impaired oxidative phosphorylation and deficient energy production. Metabolic abnormalities in brain areas associated with cognitive functions could give rise to neuropsychiatric symptomatology. The aim of this study was to use single-voxel proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy to identify metabolic abnormalities in regions implicated in neuropsychiatric symptoms in patients with mitochondrial disorders.MethodsN-acetyl-aspartate and creatine levels were measured in the caudate nucleus, anterior cingulate cortex and hippocampus in 15 patients with mitochondrial disorders compared with 15 healthy controls matched for age and sex.ResultsN-acetyl-aspartate levels were significantly lower in the caudate nucleus among patients with mitochondrial disorders (mean 7.04 ± 1.19 standard deviation [SD] institutional units) compared with healthy controls (mean 8.19 ± 1.18 SD institutional units; p = 0.02). Creatine levels were lower in the caudate nucleus among patients compared with controls (patients: mean 6.84 ± 1.42 SD institutional units; controls: mean 7.52 ± 0.76 SD institutional units; p = 0.03), but the results were no longer significant after correction for multiple comparisons. There were no significant differences in metabolite measurements between patients and controls in the anterior cingulate cortex and the hippocampus.InterpretationMetabolic abnormalities were identified exclusively in the caudate nucleus, with significantly lower N-acetyl-aspartate levels among patients compared with controls. These results suggest that the corpus striatum may be highly susceptible to mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation defects and resultant cell loss. Given the role of the caudate nucleus in cognitive and executive functions, our findings raise the possibility that metabolic abnormalities in the caudate nucleus may contribute to cognitive impairment and neuropsychiatric symptoms in patients with mitochondrial disorders, which could be investigated in future studies.

Project description:To test the hypothesis that anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) subregions in patients with schizophrenia are metabolically different from those in healthy control subjects.This institutional review board-approved study was HIPAA compliant, and all participants provided written informed consent. Twenty-two patients with schizophrenia (13 male, nine female; 39.4 years ± 10.6 [standard deviation]) and 11 age- and sex-matched control subjects (seven male, four female; 35.5 years ± 10.7) underwent magnetic resonance (MR) imaging and three-dimensional 3-T voxel proton MR spectroscopy to measure absolute rostral and caudal ACC N-acetylaspartate (NAA), creatine (Cr), and choline (Cho) concentrations. Exact Mann-Whitney test was used to compare patient data with control data, paired-sample Wilcoxon signed rank test was used to compare subregions within groups, and receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was used to assess sensitivity and specificity in diagnosis of schizophrenia.There were no significant metabolic differences between patients and control subjects or between ACC subregions in control subjects. In patients, rostral ACC NAA and Cr concentrations were significantly lower than those in caudal ACC (6.2 mM ± 1.3 vs 7.1 mM ± 1.3, P < .01; 5.7 mmol/L ± 1.4 vs 6.3 mmol/L ± 1.6, P < .01; respectively); however, this did not hold true for Cho concentrations (1.7 mmol/L ± 0.5 vs 1.8 mmol/L ± 0.5). For individual differences between caudal and rostral measurements, only NAA in patients was different from that in control subjects (0.9 mmol/L ± 1.3 vs -0.1 mmol/L ± 0.5, P < .01), enabling prediction of schizophrenia with 68% sensitivity and 91% specificity, for a difference of more than 0.4.Significant differences between caudal and rostral NAA concentration are found in ACC of patients with schizophrenia but not in ACC of healthy control subjects, indicating that neuronal density or integrity differences between ACC subregions may be characteristic of the disease.

Dataset Information

7T Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy of the Anterior Cingulate Cortex in First-Episode Schizophrenia.

Publications

7T Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy of the Anterior Cingulate Cortex in First-Episode Schizophrenia.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets