RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Metabolic Abnormalities in the Hippocampus of Patients with Schizophrenia: A 3D Multivoxel MR Spectroscopic Imaging Study at 3T
JF American Journal of Neuroradiology
JO Am. J. Neuroradiol.
FD American Society of Neuroradiology
SP 2273
OP 2279
DO 10.3174/ajnr.A4886
VO 37
IS 12
A1 E.J. Meyer
A1 I.I. Kirov
A1 A. Tal
A1 M.S. Davitz
A1 J.S. Babb
A1 M. Lazar
A1 D. Malaspina
A1 O. Gonen
YR 2016
UL http://www.ajnr.org/content/37/12/2273.abstract
AB BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Schizophrenia is well-known to be associated with hippocampal structural abnormalities. We used 1H-MR spectroscopy to test the hypothesis that these abnormalities are accompanied by NAA deficits, reflecting neuronal dysfunction, in patients compared with healthy controls.MATERIALS AND METHODS: Nineteen patients with schizophrenia (11 men; mean age, 40.6 ± 10.1 years; mean disease duration, 19.5 ± 10.5 years) and 11 matched healthy controls (5 men; mean age, 33.7 ± 10.1 years) underwent MR imaging and multivoxel point-resolved spectroscopy (TE/TR, 35/1400 ms) 1H-MRS at 3T to obtain their hippocampal GM absolute NAA, Cr, Cho, and mIns concentrations. Unequal variance t tests and ANCOVA were used to compare patients with controls. Bilateral volumes from manually outlined hippocampal masks were compared by using unequal variance t tests.RESULTS: Patients' average hippocampal GM Cr concentrations were 19% higher than that of controls, 8.7 ± 2.2 versus 7.4 ± 1.2 mmol/L (P < .05); showing no differences, concentrations in NAA were 8.8 ± 1.6 versus 8.7 ± 1.2 mmol/L; in Cho, 2.3 ± 0.7 versus 2.1 ± 0.3 mmol/L; and in mIns, 6.1 ± 1.5 versus 5.2 ± 0.9 (all P > .1). There was a positive correlation between mIns and Cr in patients (r = 0.57, P = .05) but not in controls. The mean bilateral hippocampal volume was ∼10% lower in patients: 7.5 ± 0.9 versus 8.4 ± 0.7 cm3 (P < .05).CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that the hippocampal volume deficit in schizophrenia is not due to net loss of neurons, in agreement with histopathology studies but not with prior 1H-MR spectroscopy reports. Elevated Cr is consistent with hippocampal hypermetabolism, and its correlation with mIns may also suggest an inflammatory process affecting some cases; these findings may suggest treatment targets and markers to monitor them.CSIchemical shift imaging1H-MRSI3D multivoxel 1H-MRS imagingSZschizophrenia