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A 1H magnetic resonance spectroscopy study in adults with obsessive compulsive disorder: relationship between metabolite concentrations and symptom severity

  • Biological Psychiatry - Original Article
  • Published:
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Abstract

1H magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H MRS) studies exploring brain metabolites, especially glutamine + glutamate (Glx), in obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) are of vital interest for trying to understand more about the pathophysiology of OCD. Therefore, we conducted the present 1H MRS study with the aims of (1) comparing MRS metabolites in a group of adult patients with OCD and a group of healthy controls, and (2) examining the relationship between MRS metabolite concentrations and symptom severity in the patient group. Three brain regions were studied, the right caudate nucleus, the anterior gyrus cinguli and the occipital cortex bilaterally. Since multivariate analysis is a highly useful tool for extraction of 1H MRS data, we applied principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least square projection to latent structures (PLS) to the MRS data. PLS disclosed a strong relationship between several of the metabolites and OCD symptom severity, as measured with Yale-Brown obsessive-compulsive scale (YBOCS): the YBOCS score was found to be positively correlated to caudate creatine, Glx, glutamate, and choline compounds as well as occipital cortex myoinositol, and negatively correlated to occipital cortex Glx. The negative correlation between occipital cortex Glx and YBOCS was the most impressive. PCA did not reveal any tendency for a separation between the patients with OCD and controls with respect to MRS metabolites. The results are discussed in relation to corticostriatothalamocortical feedback and previous observations of poor visuospatial ability in OCD.

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Abbreviations

BDI:

Beck depression inventory

CHESS:

Chemical shift selective saturation

Cho:

Choline compounds

Cr:

Creatine + phosphocreatine

CYBOCS:

Children’s Yale-Brown obsessive-compulsive scale

Gln:

Glutamine

Glu:

Glutamate

Glx:

Glutamine + glutamate

icu:

institutional concentration units

mI:

Myoinositol

MR:

Magnetic resonance

MRS:

Magnetic resonance spectroscopy

NAA:

N-Acetylaspartate

NAAG:

N-Acetylaspartylglutamate

NMR:

Nuclear magnetic resonance

OCD:

Obsessive compulsive disorder

PET:

Positron emission tomography

PLS:

Projection to latent structures by means of partial least squares

ppm:

parts per million

PRESS:

Point resolved spectroscopy

SNR:

Signal-to-noise ratio

SPECT:

Single photon emission computed tomography

SSRI:

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor

TE:

Echo time

TR:

Repetition time

VOI:

Volume-of-interest

YBOCS:

Yale-Brown obsessive-compulsive scale

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Swedish Research Council (14039), Västra Götalandsregionen, Sweden, grants from the state under the LUA/ALF agreement, Frimurare Barnhusdirektionen Göteborg, The Arvid Carlsson Foundation, Fredrik och Ingrid Thurings stiftelse, The Foundations of the National Board of Health and Welfare, The Royal Society of Arts and Science in Göteborg, Adlerbertska forskningsstiftelsen and Wilhelm och Martina Lundgrens vetenskapsfond.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Medical Physics and Medical Engineering, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Göteborg, Sweden

    Göran Starck, Maria Ljungberg, Susanne Ribbelin & Eva Forssell-Aronsson

  2. Department of Radiation Physics, University of Gothenburg, Göteborg, Sweden

    Göran Starck, Maria Ljungberg, Susanne Ribbelin & Eva Forssell-Aronsson

  3. Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, University of Gothenburg, Medicinaregatan 11, Box 430, 405 30, Göteborg, Sweden

    Marie Nilsson, Arvid Carlsson & Maria L. Carlsson

  4. Department of Radiology, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Göteborg, Sweden

    Lars Jönsson

  5. Psychiatric Clinic, Kungälvs Sjukhus, Kungälv, Sweden

    Stefan Lundberg

  6. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Gothenburg, Göteborg, Sweden

    Tord Ivarsson

  7. Department of Radiology, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY, USA

    Sven Ekholm

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  1. Göran Starck
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  2. Maria Ljungberg
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  11. Maria L. Carlsson
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Correspondence to Maria L. Carlsson.

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Starck, G., Ljungberg, M., Nilsson, M. et al. A 1H magnetic resonance spectroscopy study in adults with obsessive compulsive disorder: relationship between metabolite concentrations and symptom severity. J Neural Transm 115, 1051–1062 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-008-0045-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-008-0045-4

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