Depressive Symptoms and Brain Metabolite Alterations in Subjects at Ultra-high Risk for Psychosis: A Preliminary Study.
OBJECTIVE
Recent neuroimaging studies have suggested that brain changes occur in subjects at ultra-high risk (UHR) for psychosis while experiencing prodromal symptoms, among which depression may increase the risk of developing a psychotic disorder. The goal of this study is to examine brain metabolite levels in the anterior cingulate cortex, the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the left thalamus in subjects at UHR for psychosis and to compare brain metabolite levels between the UHR subjects with comorbid major depressive disorder and healthy controls.


METHODS
Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy was used to examine brain metabolite levels. Twenty UHR subjects and 20 age- and intelligence quotient (IQ)-matched healthy controls were included in this study.


RESULTS
Overall, no significant differences were observed in any metabolite between the UHR and healthy control group. However, UHR subjects with major depressive disorder showed significantly higher myo-inositol (Ins) levels in the left thalamus, compared to the healthy control.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results demonstrate that increased thalamic Ins level is associated with prodromal depressive symptoms. Further longitudinal follow-up studies with larger UHR sample sizes are required to investigate the function of Ins concentrations as a biomarker of vulnerability to psychosis.
Byun
Min Soo
MS
Department of Psychiatry, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Choi
Jung-Seok
JS
Yoo
So Young
SY
Kang
Do-Hyung
DH
Choi
Chi-Hoon
CH
Jang
Dong Pyo
DP
Jung
Wi Hoon
WH
Jung
Myung Hun
MH
Jang
Joon Hwan
JH
Lee
Jong-Min
JM
Kwon
Jun Soo
JS