title: Non-invasive evaluation of the GABAergic/glutamatergic system in autistic patients observed by MEGA-editing proton MR spectroscopy using a clinical 3 tesla instrument.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Imaging, Institute of Health Biosciences, The University of Tokushima Graduate School, Tokushima, 770-8509, Japan. masafumi@medsci.tokushima-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Masafumi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Harada
authors.forename: Masako M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Taki
authors.forename: Ayumi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nose
authors.forename: Hitoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kubo
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mori
authors.forename: Hiromu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nishitani
authors.forename: Tsuyoshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Matsuda
mesh_terms: 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*
chemical_list: D001224:Aspartic Acid; D018698:Glutamic Acid; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid; C000179:N-acetylaspartate