title: Functioning and neuronal viability of the anterior cingulate neurons following antipsychotic treatment: MR-spectroscopic imaging in chronic schizophrenia.
abstract: Magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging provides a non-invasive approach for testing the hypothesis that neuronal function can improve under atypical antipsychotic medication leading to improvement in cognitive function. We studied two groups of schizophrenic patients, one treated exclusively with typical neuroleptics, the other with atypical medications. 1H MR-spectroscopic imaging of the anterior cingulate gyrus was performed in all patients. Perseveration errors in the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) served as an additional marker for cingulate gyrus function. Our results showed that N-acetylaspartate (NAA), a measure of neuronal function, was closely correlated with perseveration errors seen on the WCST. Patients treated with atypical medications had fewer errors on the WCST and higher NAA levels than those on typical medications, and there was a correlation between the time treated with atypical medication, higher NAA levels and better test performance. These results suggest that atypical antipsychotics modify the function of anterior cingulate neurons in a specific manner.
authors.affiliation: NMR-Research and Clinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, J5, D-68159 Mannheim, Germany. dfbraus@zi-mannheim.de
authors.forename: Dieter F
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Braus
authors.forename: Gabriele
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ende
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Weber-Fahr
authors.forename: Traute
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Demirakca
authors.forename: Heike
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tost
authors.forename: Fritz A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Henn
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001224:Aspartic Acid / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000378:metabolism; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: D014150:Antipsychotic Agents; D001224:Aspartic Acid; C000179:N-acetylaspartate