Effects of age, medication, and illness duration on the N-acetyl aspartate signal of the anterior cingulate region in schizophrenia

Ende, G., Braus, D. F., Walter, S., Weber-Fahr, W., Soher, B., Maudsley, A. A., Henn, F. A. (February 2000) Effects of age, medication, and illness duration on the N-acetyl aspartate signal of the anterior cingulate region in schizophrenia. Schizophr Res, 41 (3). pp. 389-95. ISSN 0920-9964 (Print)

URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10728716
DOI: 10.1016/S0920-9964(99)00089-4

Abstract

The authors performed a MRSI study of the anterior cingulate gyrus in 19 schizophrenic patients under stable medication and 16 controls in order to corroborate previous findings of reduced NAA in the anterior cingulate region in schizophrenia. Furthermore, correlations between NAA in the anterior cingulate gyrus and age or illness duration have been determined. A decreased NAA signal was found in the anterior cingulate gyrus of patients compared to controls. Subdividing the patient group into two groups depending on medication revealed that the group of patients receiving a typical neuroleptic medication showed a lower mean NAA in comparison to the group of patients receiving atypical antipsychotic drugs. No significant group differences in the creatine and phosphocreatine signal or the signal from choline-containing compounds were found. The NAA signal significantly correlated with age, and therefore, individual NAA values were corrected for the age effect found in the control group. The age-corrected NAA signal in schizophrenia correlated significantly with the duration of illness. The detected correlations of NAA decrease with age and illness duration are consistent with recent imaging studies where progressing cortical atrophy in schizophrenia was found. Further studies will be needed to corroborate a possible favorable effect of atypical antipsychotics on the NAA signal.

Item Type: Paper
Uncontrolled Keywords: Adult Antipsychotic Agents/ administration & dosage/adverse effects Aspartic Acid/ analogs & derivatives/metabolism Chronic Disease Clozapine/adverse effects/therapeutic use Creatine/metabolism Female Gyrus Cinguli/ drug effects/physiopathology Humans Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy Male Middle Aged Phosphocreatine/metabolism Reference Values Risperidone/adverse effects/therapeutic use Schizophrenia/ drug therapy/physiopathology Treatment Outcome
Subjects: diseases & disorders > mental disorders
diseases & disorders > mental disorders > schizophrenia
organs, tissues, organelles, cell types and functions > organs types and functions > brain
CSHL Authors:
Communities: CSHL labs > Henn lab
Depositing User: Matt Covey
Date: 14 February 2000
Date Deposited: 31 Jan 2014 16:13
Last Modified: 31 Jan 2014 16:13
Related URLs:
URI: https://repository.cshl.edu/id/eprint/29383

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