A 1H magnetic resonance spectroscopy study on hippocampus in patients with major depressive disorder
BAO He-hua1, LI Guo-hai1, LI Yi-yun1, MA Hai-bo1, WANG Dong-qing2, ZHANG Li-rong2
（1.Department of Psychiatry, the Fourth Hospital Affiliated to Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang Jiangsu 212001; 2.Magnetic Resonance Imaging Center, the Affiliated Hospital of Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang Jiangsu 212002, China)
Abstract：Objective：To explore the neurochemical characteristics and correlates of hippocampus metabolites in patients with major depressive disorder. Methods: Thirteen unmediated patients meeting the DSM-Ⅳcriteria for depression disorder(depression group), and 13 psychiatrically normal matched comparison subjects(control group) were included in the study. Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy(1H-MRS) was used to determine the levels of N-acetylaspartate(NAA), glutamate/glutamine(Glx), choline compounds(Cho), myoinositol, and creatine(Cr) in hippocampus of all 26 subjects. Thirteen patients underwent a second 1HMRS examination after 6 weeks antidepressive treatment. The associations between metabolite levels and treatment effects were analysed. Results: NAA levels from bilateral hippocampus were significantly lower in depressive patients than in comparison subjects(for left, 0.93±0.21 vs 1.36±0.27，P=0.000; for right, 0.96±0.19 vs 1.37±0.25, P=0.000). There were no significant differences in the concentrations of Glx、Cho、myoinositol between the two groups(P＞0.05). No significant changes in the neurochemistry were observed before and after treatment with antidepressive agents(P>0.05). No correlations were found between the changes in the metabolite levels and treatment effects(P＞0.05). Conclusions: The abnormal changes of NAA, Glx, Cho, and mI metabolites in hippocampus may be implicated in the pathogenesis of depressive disorder.
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2013, Vol. 23 
