title: Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy and thought disorder in childhood schizophrenia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Although magnetic resonance spectroscopy has identified metabolic abnormalities in adult and childhood schizophrenia, no prior studies have investigated the relationship between neurometabolites and thought disorder. This study examined this association in language-related brain regions using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging ((1)H MRSI).
  
  
  METHODS
  MRSI was acquired bilaterally from 28 youth with childhood-onset schizophrenia and 34 healthy control subjects in inferior frontal, middle frontal, and superior temporal gyri at 1.5T and short echo time (TR/TE = 1500/30 ms). CSF-corrected "total NAA" (tNAA; N-acetyl-aspartate + N-acetyl-aspartyl-glutamate), glutamate + glutamine (Glx), creatine + phosphocreatine (Cr + PCr), choline compounds (Cho), and myo-inositol (mI) were assayed in manually drawn regions-of-interest partitioned into gray matter, white matter, and CSF and then coregistered with MRSI. Speech samples of all subjects were coded for thought disorder.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the schizophrenia group, the severity of formal thought disorder correlated significantly with tNAA in the left inferior frontal and superior temporal gyri and with Cr + PCr in left superior temporal gyrus.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Neurometabolite concentrations in language-related brain regions are associated with thought disorder in childhood-onset schizophrenia.
authors.affiliation: Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1759, United States.
authors.forename: Ronald R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Seese
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: O'Neill
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hudkins
authors.forename: Prabha
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Siddarth
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Levitt
authors.forename: Ben
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Tseng
authors.forename: Keng Nei
authors.initials: KN
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Rochelle
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Caplan
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001224:Aspartic Acid / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000378:metabolism; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D002648:Child; D002794:Choline / Q000378:metabolism; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D003401:Creatine / Q000378:metabolism; D004151:Dipeptides / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010725:Phosphocreatine / Q000378:metabolism; D011522:Protons; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012561:Schizophrenia, Childhood / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
chemical_list: D004151:Dipeptides; D011522:Protons; D010725:Phosphocreatine; C027172:isospaglumic acid; D001224:Aspartic Acid; C000179:N-acetylaspartate; D003401:Creatine; D002794:Choline