title: Six-month treatment with atypical antipsychotic drugs decreased frontal-lobe levels of glutamate plus glutamine in early-stage first-episode schizophrenia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study the effects of treatment with atypical antipsychotic drugs on brain levels of glutamate plus glutamine in early-stage first-episode schizophrenia.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sixteen patients (eight males, eight females; aged 30 ± 11 years) completed the study.
  
  
  METHODS
  We used administered 6 months of atypical antipsychotic drugs and used proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy to evaluate the results.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found that the administration of atypical antipsychotic drugs for 6 months decreased the glutamate plus glutamine/creatine ratio in the frontal lobe. These results suggest that the administration of atypical antipsychotic drugs for at least 6 months decreased glutamatergic neurotransmissions in the frontal lobe in early-stage first-episode schizophrenia, but there was no difference in frontal-lobe levels between patients and control subjects before administration.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Taking these findings into account, the glutamatergic and GABAergic neurons are implicated in early-stage first-episode schizophrenia, but in complex ways.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, Japan.
authors.forename: Naoki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Goto
authors.forename: Reiji
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Yoshimura
authors.forename: Shingo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kakeda
authors.forename: Joji
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nishimura
authors.forename: Junji
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Moriya
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hayashi
authors.forename: Asuka
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Katsuki
authors.forename: Hikaru
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hori
authors.forename: Wakako
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Umene-Nakano
authors.forename: Atsuko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ikenouchi-Sugita
authors.forename: Yukunori
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Korogi
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nakamura