Abstract
The purpose of the present study was to determine whether MR-detectable alterations of choline-containing compounds in two key neural systems involved in major depression disorder namely the hippocampus and the basal ganglia can be detected. Multislice proton magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging was applied in 11 patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and ten matched healthy subjects. Voxels were selected from the left and right side of the hippocampus and the putamen. Significantly lower choline-containing compounds in the hippocampus and significantly higher choline-containing compounds in the putamen of patients with MDD compared to healthy subjects were found. No significant differences were found for the other metabolites in the two regions evaluated. Abnormal levels of choline-containing compounds most likely reflect altered membrane phospholipid metabolism. A reduced level in the hippocampus and an increased level in the putamen suggest regionally opponent membrane abnormalities.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Dr. Norbert Schuff for providing the multislice spherical k-space sampling MRSI sequence and Drs. Andrew Maudsley and Brian Soher (NIH/NIA Grant # R01AG12119) for providing the automated spectral fitting routine. This study was supported by a grant from the Heidelberg Academy of Science (WIN program).
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Presented in part at the 13th annual meeting of the Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, Miami 2005.
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Ende, G., Demirakca, T., Walter, S. et al. Subcortical and medial temporal MR-detectable metabolite abnormalities in unipolar major depression. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 257, 36–39 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-006-0680-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-006-0680-4