title: A 1H-MRS investigation of the medial temporal lobe in antipsychotic-naïve and early-treated first episode psychosis.
abstract: Schizophrenia is associated with significant brain abnormalities, including changes in brain metabolites as measured by proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). What remains unclear is the extent to which these changes are a consequence of the emergence of psychotic disorders or the result of treatment with antipsychotic medication. We assessed 34 patients with first episode psychosis (15 antipsychotic naïve) and 19 age- and gender-matched controls using short-echo MRS in the medial temporal lobe bilaterally. Overall, there were no differences in any metabolite, regardless of treatment status. However, when the analysis was limited to patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, schizophreniform or schizoaffective disorder, significant elevations of creatine/phosphocreatine (Cr/PCr) and myo-inositol (mI) were found in the treated group. These data indicate a relative absence of temporal lobe metabolic abnormalities in first episode psychosis, but suggest that some treatment-related changes in mI might be apparent in patients with schizophrenia-spectrum diagnoses. Seemingly illness-related Cr/PCr elevations were also specific to the diagnosis of schizophrenia-spectrum disorder and seem worthy of future study.
authors.affiliation: Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne and Melbourne Health, Australia. sjwood@unimelb.edu.au
authors.forename: Stephen J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Wood
authors.forename: Gregor E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Berger
authors.forename: R Mark
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Wellard
authors.forename: Tina
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Proffitt
authors.forename: Mirabel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: McConchie
authors.forename: Dennis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Velakoulis
authors.forename: Patrick D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: McGorry
authors.forename: Christos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pantelis
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001224:Aspartic Acid / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000378:metabolism; D002794:Choline / Q000378:metabolism*; D003401:Creatine / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000378:metabolism; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007294:Inositol / Q000378:metabolism; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D010725:Phosphocreatine / Q000378:metabolism; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000378:metabolism; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000378:metabolism; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D014150:Antipsychotic Agents; D010725:Phosphocreatine; D001224:Aspartic Acid; D007294:Inositol; C000179:N-acetylaspartate; D003401:Creatine; D002794:Choline