Non-invasive evaluation of the GABAergic/glutamatergic system in autistic patients observed by MEGA-editing proton MR spectroscopy using a clinical 3 tesla instrument.
Amino acids related to neurotransmitters and the GABAergic/glutamatergic system were measured using a 3 T-MRI instrument in 12 patients with autism and 10 normal controls. All measurements were performed in the frontal lobe (FL) and lenticular nuclei (LN) using a conventional sequence for n-acetyl aspartate (NAA) and glutamate (Glu), and the MEGA-editing method for GABA. The GABA level and [GABA]/[NAA] ratio were significantly lower (p < 0.01) in the FL, but not the LN, in patients with autism compared to normal controls. The [GABA]/[Glu] ratio in the FL was also significantly lower (p < 0.05) in the patients than in the normal controls, thus suggesting a possible abnormality in the regulation between GABA and Glu.
Harada
Masafumi
M
Department of Medical Imaging, Institute of Health Biosciences, The University of Tokushima Graduate School, Tokushima, 770-8509, Japan. masafumi@medsci.tokushima-u.ac.jp
Taki
Masako M
MM
Nose
Ayumi
A
Kubo
Hitoshi
H
Mori
Kenji
K
Nishitani
Hiromu
H
Matsuda
Tsuyoshi
T
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001224:Aspartic Acid / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000378:metabolism; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000378:metabolism*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000378:metabolism*; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000378:metabolism*; D018698:Glutamic Acid / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid / Q000378:metabolism*
D001224:Aspartic Acid; D018698:Glutamic Acid; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid; C000179:N-acetylaspartate