title: Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy of prefrontal white matter in psychotropic naïve children and adolescents with obsessive-compulsive disorder.
abstract: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) has a typical onset during childhood or adolescence. Although recent in-vivo proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy ((1)H-MRS) studies report gray matter metabolite abnormalities in children and adolescents with OCD, there are no existing (1)H-MRS studies that measure white matter (WM) metabolite levels in this population. In the present study, we measured metabolite levels in the left and right prefrontal WM (LPFWM and RPFWM, respectively) of psychotropic-naïve children and adolescents with OCD (LPFWM: N=15, mean age 13.3±2.4 years; right RPFWM: N=14, mean age 13.0±2.3 years) and healthy controls (LPFWM: N=17, mean age 11.8±2.7 years; RPFWM: N=18, mean age 12.2±2.8 years). Spectra were acquired using a 3T single voxel PRESS sequence (1.5×2.0×2.0cm(3)). When age and sex effects were controlled, OCD patients had higher levels of RPFWM choline and N-acetyl-aspartate (NAA). In addition, RPFWM levels of NAA, creatine and myo-inositol were positively and significantly correlated with severity of OCD symptoms. In summary, this is the first published study of WM metabolite levels in children and adolescents with OCD. Our preliminary findings lend further support to the previous findings of WM abnormalities in OCD.
authors.affiliation: School of Biomedical Engineering, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Alexander Mark
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Weber
authors.affiliation: School of Biomedical Engineering, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neuroscience, Hamilton, ON, Canada; Offord Centre for Child Studies, McMaster University, McMaster Children׳s Hospital, Hamilton, ON, Canada; Anxiety Treatment and Research Center, St. Joseph׳s Healthcare, Hamilton, ON, Canada. Electronic address: nsoreni@sjtoes.ca.
authors.forename: Noam
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Soreni
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University, School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Jeffrey A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Stanley
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neuroscience, Hamilton, ON, Canada; Offord Centre for Child Studies, McMaster University, McMaster Children׳s Hospital, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Alessia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Greco
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mendlowitz
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neuroscience, Hamilton, ON, Canada; Offord Centre for Child Studies, McMaster University, McMaster Children׳s Hospital, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Szatmari
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Russell
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Schachar
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Katharina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mannasis
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neuroscience, Hamilton, ON, Canada; Offord Centre for Child Studies, McMaster University, McMaster Children׳s Hospital, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Paulo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pires
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neuroscience, Hamilton, ON, Canada; Offord Centre for Child Studies, McMaster University, McMaster Children׳s Hospital, Hamilton, ON, Canada; Anxiety Treatment and Research Center, St. Joseph׳s Healthcare, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Swinson
authors.affiliation: School of Biomedical Engineering, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada; Electrical & Computer Engineering, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada; Medical Physics & Applied Radiation Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada; Diagnostic Imaging, St. Joseph׳s Healthcare, Hamilton, ON, Canada; Department of Radiology, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Michael D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Noseworthy
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002794:Choline / Q000378:metabolism; D003401:Creatine / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007294:Inositol / Q000378:metabolism; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D009413:Nerve Fibers, Myelinated / Q000378:metabolism*; D059906:Neuroimaging; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D007294:Inositol; D003401:Creatine; D002794:Choline
keywords: (1)H-MRS; Brain; OCD; Pediatric; Psychotropic-naïve; White matter