Functioning and neuronal viability of the anterior cingulate neurons following antipsychotic treatment: MR-spectroscopic imaging in chronic schizophrenia

• Published in: European neuropsychopharmacology Vol. 12; no. 2; pp. 145 - 152
• Main Authors: Braus, Dieter F, Ende, Gabriele, Weber-Fahr, Wolfgang, Demirakca, Traute, Tost, Heike, Henn, Fritz A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 01.04.2002
• Subjects: Adult; Antipsychotic Agents - pharmacology; Antipsychotic Agents - therapeutic use; Aspartic Acid - analogs & derivatives; Aspartic Acid - metabolism; Cell Survival - drug effects; Cell Survival - physiology; Chronic Disease; Cingulate gyrus; Cross-Sectional Studies; Female; Gyrus Cinguli - cytology; Gyrus Cinguli - drug effects; Gyrus Cinguli - metabolism; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy - statistics & numerical data; Male; Neuronal viability; Neurons - cytology; Neurons - drug effects; Neurons - metabolism; Neuropsychological Tests - statistics & numerical data; Neuropsychology; Schizophrenia; Schizophrenia - diagnosis; Schizophrenia - drug therapy; Schizophrenia - metabolism; Schizophrenia - pathology; Spectroscopic imaging; WCST; Schizophrenia; Neuronal viability; Neuropsychology; Spectroscopic imaging; WCST; Cingulate gyrus
• ISSN: 0924-977X; 1873-7862
• DOI: 10.1016/S0924-977X(02)00003-2

Magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging provides a non-invasive approach for testing the hypothesis that neuronal function can improve under atypical antipsychotic medication leading to improvement in cognitive function. We studied two groups of schizophrenic patients, one treated exclusively with typical neuroleptics, the other with atypical medications. 1H MR-spectroscopic imaging of the anterior cingulate gyrus was performed in all patients. Perseveration errors in the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) served as an additional marker for cingulate gyrus function. Our results showed that N-acetylaspartate (NAA), a measure of neuronal function, was closely correlated with perseveration errors seen on the WCST. Patients treated with atypical medications had fewer errors on the WCST and higher NAA levels than those on typical medications, and there was a correlation between the time treated with atypical medication, higher NAA levels and better test performance. These results suggest that atypical antipsychotics modify the function of anterior cingulate neurons in a specific manner.