title: Illness versus substance use effects on the frontal white matter in early phase schizophrenia: A 4Tesla (1)H-MRS study.
abstract: Young adults with early phase schizophrenia often report a past or current pattern of illicit substance use and/or alcohol misuse. Still, little is known about the cumulative and separate effects of each stressor on white matter tissue, at this vulnerable period of brain development.
  
  
  
  Participants involved 24 healthy controls with a past or current history of sustained illicit drug use and/or alcohol misuse (users), 23 healthy controls without such history (normative data), and 27 users with early phase schizophrenia. (1)H-MRS data were acquired from a large frontal volume encompassing 95% of white matter, using a 4Tesla scanner (LASER sequence, TR/TE 3200/46ms).
  
  
  
  Reduced levels of choline-containing compounds (Cho) were specific to the effect of illness (Cohen's d=0.68), with 22% of the variance in Cho levels accounted for by duration of illness. Reduced levels of myoInositol (d=1.10) and creatine plus phosphocreatine (d=1.07) were specific to the effects of illness plus substance use. Effect of substance use on its own was revealed by reductions in levels of glutamate plus glutamine (d=0.83) in control users relative to normative data.
  
  
  
  The specific effect of illness on white matter might indicate a decreased synthesis of membrane phospholipids or alternatively, reduced membrane cellular density. In terms of limitations, this study did not include patients without a lifetime history of substance use (non-users), and the specific effect of each substance used could not be studied separately.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, Canada.
authors.forename: Denise
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bernier
authors.affiliation: Robarts Research Institute, University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bartha
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, Canada; Biomedical Translational Imaging Centre, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: McAllindon
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Alberta, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Christopher C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Hanstock
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Computer Science, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, Canada.
authors.forename: Yannick
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Marchand
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, Canada.
authors.forename: Kim N H
authors.initials: KNH
authors.lastname: Dillen
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, Canada.
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gallant
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, Canada.
authors.forename: Kimberly P
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Good
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, Canada. Electronic address: Phil.Tibbo@nshealth.ca.
authors.forename: Philip G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Tibbo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010743:Phospholipids / Q000378:metabolism; D066244:Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000378:metabolism*; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000378:metabolism*; D066127:White Matter / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000378:metabolism*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D010743:Phospholipids
keywords: Alcohol; Cannabis; Choline-containing compounds; Glutamate; THC; myoInositol