title: 1H MRS brain measures and acute lorazepam administration in healthy human subjects.
abstract: The effects of acute lorazepam administration on 1H magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) in vivo brain spectra were examined in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (L-DLPFC) of healthy human subjects. We wanted to examine whether lorazepam administration would result in significant changes in the levels of 1H-MRS metabolites in this brain region. Ten healthy controls underwent a short echo-time 1H-MRS session immediately before, and a second one 1 h after lorazepam administration (2mg/orally). The measured 1H-metabolites included N-acetyl-aspartate, phosphocreatine+creatine, trimethylamines, myo-inositol, glutamate, and glutamine, which were expressed as absolute values and ratios. No significant differences were found after lorazepam administration for any of the measured metabolite levels or ratios (paired t-tests, p >.05). This study demonstrated that lorazepam can potentially be utilized to acutely sedate psychiatric subjects during in vivo 1H-MRS sessions, as it does not appear to produce significant changes in the 1H-MRS spectra in this specific brain region.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, 3811 O'Hara Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA.
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Brambilla
authors.forename: Jeff A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Stanley
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nicoletti
authors.forename: Keith
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Harenski
authors.forename: Kelly Forster
authors.initials: KF
authors.lastname: Wells
authors.forename: Alan G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Mallinger
authors.forename: Matcheri S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Keshavan
authors.forename: Jair C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Soares
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D014151:Anti-Anxiety Agents / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001923:Brain Chemistry / Q000187:drug effects*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008140:Lorazepam / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D008297:Male; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000737:chemistry / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D014151:Anti-Anxiety Agents; D008140:Lorazepam