Investigation of Cortical Glutamate–Glutamine and γ-Aminobutyric Acid in Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder by Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy

• Published in: Neuropsychopharmacology (New York, N.Y.) Vol. 37; no. 12; pp. 2684 - 2692
• Main Authors: Simpson, Helen B, Shungu, Dikoma C, Bender, James, Mao, Xiangling, Xu, Xiaoyan, Slifstein, Mark, Kegeles, Lawrence S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basingstoke Nature Publishing Group 01.11.2012
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Age of Onset; Anxiety disorders. Neuroses; Biological and medical sciences; Brain Chemistry - physiology; Cerebral Cortex - metabolism; Cerebral Cortex - pathology; Data Interpretation, Statistical; Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; Female; gamma-Aminobutyric Acid - metabolism; Glutamic Acid - metabolism; Glutamine - metabolism; Humans; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; Indexing in process; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - metabolism; Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - pathology; Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - psychology; Obsessive-compulsive disorders; Original; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Young Adult; Obsessive compulsive disorder; Central nervous system; Anxiety disorder; magnetic resonance spectroscopy; Prefrontal cortex; Glutamate; Encephalon; Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex; Medial prefrontal cortex; OCD; Glx; Cingulate cortex; Excitatory aminoacid; Neurotransmitter; GABA; anterior cingulate cortex; Glutamine

Glutamatergic abnormalities in corticostriatal brain circuits are thought to underlie obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Whether these abnormalities exist in adults with OCD is not clear. We used proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (¹H MRS) to test our hypothesis that unmedicated adults with OC...