title: Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy in anorexia nervosa: correlations with cognition.
abstract: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between cognitive impairment and cerebral metabolites in patients with anorexia nervosa (AN). N-acetylaspartate (NAA), creatine/phosphocreatine (Cr), choline-containing compounds, glutamate/glutamine (Glx) and myoinositol were measured by proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (H-MRS) of the left prefrontal cortex. Compared with healthy controls, AN patients displayed a significantly poorer performance in verbal learning and in attentional and executive tasks. Performance in the divided attention task was correlated with NAA and Cr in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, while executive functioning and depressive symptomatology were associated with Glx levels in the anterior cingulate. Our results provide evidence for cognitive impairment in AN patients which is associated with cerebral metabolism in the prefrontal cortex.
authors.affiliation: University of Münster, Department of Psychiatry, Albert-Schweitzer-Str. 11, 48129 Münster, Germany. ohrmann@uni-muenster.de
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ohrmann
authors.forename: Anette
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kersting
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Suslow
authors.forename: Judith
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lalee-Mentzel
authors.forename: Uta-Susan
authors.initials: US
authors.lastname: Donges
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fiebich
authors.forename: Volker
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Arolt
authors.forename: Walter
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Heindel
authors.forename: Bettina
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Pfleiderer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000856:Anorexia Nervosa / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000523:psychology*; D001224:Aspartic Acid / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000378:metabolism; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D001923:Brain Chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D002794:Choline / Q000378:metabolism; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D003401:Creatine / Q000378:metabolism; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D005260:Female; D005971:Glutamates / Q000378:metabolism; D005973:Glutamine / Q000378:metabolism; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007294:Inositol / Q000378:metabolism; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010725:Phosphocreatine / Q000378:metabolism; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D014706:Verbal Learning / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D005971:Glutamates; D010725:Phosphocreatine; D005973:Glutamine; D001224:Aspartic Acid; D007294:Inositol; C000179:N-acetylaspartate; D003401:Creatine; D002794:Choline