title: Biochemical changes in the cingulum in patients with schizophrenia and chronic bipolar disorder.
abstract: Biochemical changes have been reported in vivo in the brain in schizophrenia patients using 1H-magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). The aim of this study was to assess the specificity of biochemical changes occurring in schizophrenia patients, in a direct comparison with bipolar disorder patients. Fourteen patients with chronic paranoid schizophrenia, 17 euthymic type I bipolar patients with no previous history of psychotic symptoms and 15 healthy controls were included, most of them were female. They underwent a study with MRS: proton spectra were acquired using a Signa 1.5 T CVI scanner, with a localised single voxel PRESS sequence. N-acetyl aspartate (NAA), Creatine (Cr), and Choline (Cho) metabolite resonance intensities were all quantified in the cingulum, a region of interest in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Schizophrenia patients showed a significantly higher Cho/Cre as well as lower NAA/Cho ratios as compared with controls and bipolar patients. No significant differences were found among the three groups as regards NAA/Cre levels. These data are consistent with an increase in the concentration of choline in the cingulum in chronic schizophrenia, at least in this predominantly female group. Such an increase seems to be more intense than in psychosis-free bipolar disorder patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Complejo Hospitalario, Carretera Bailén-Motril sn, Jaén, CP 23009, Spain. fernandosarramea@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sarramea Crespo
authors.forename: Rogelio
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Luque
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Prieto
authors.forename: Pablo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sau
authors.forename: Carmen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Albert
authors.forename: Itziar
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Leal
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: de Luxan
authors.forename: Maria Isabel
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Osuna
authors.forename: Miguel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ruiz
authors.forename: Rosa
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Galán
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cabaleiro
authors.forename: Vicente
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Molina
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001224:Aspartic Acid / Q000378:metabolism*; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D002794:Choline / Q000378:metabolism*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003401:Creatine / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012563:Schizophrenia, Paranoid / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D001224:Aspartic Acid; D003401:Creatine; D002794:Choline