Assessment of glutamate in striatal subregions in obsessive-compulsive disorder with proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy

作者：Simpson Helen Blair^*; Kegeles Lawrence S; Hunter Liane; Mao Xiangling; Van Meter Page; Xu Xiaoyan; Kimeldorf Marcia B; Pearlstein Sarah L; Slifstein Mark; Shungu Dikoma C

来源：Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging , 2015, 232(1): 65-70.

DOI：10.1016/j.pscychresns.2015.01.009

• Magnetic resonance spectroscopy
• OCD
• Striatum
• Caudate

Glutamatergic signaling abnormalities in cortico-striatal circuits are hypothesized to lead to the repetitive thoughts and behaviors of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). To test this hypothesis, studies have used proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (H-1 MRS) to measure glulamalergic compounds in the striatum of individuals with OCD. However, no studies have used methods that could measure glutamate minimally contaminated by glutamine and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in striatal subregions. Therefore, in this study, a proton MRS imaging (H-1 MRSI) technique with relatively high spatial resolution at 3.0 T was used to measure minimally contaminated glutamate levels in three striatal subregions (i.e., dorsal caudate, dorsal putamen, and ventral striatum) in 15 unmedicated adults with OCD and 16 matched healthy control subjects. No significant group differences in glutamate levels were found in any of the three striatal subregions. In contrast, a study in unmedicated pediatric OCD patients that measured glutamatergic compounds in the dorsal caudate by MRS at 1.5 T found significant elevations. Further studies are warranted to assess whether these discrepant MRS findings are due to differences in subject age or MRS methodology, or potentially are associated with glutamatergic gene variants implicated in OCD.

• 出版日期2015-4-30