van Elst Ludger Tebartz, Valerius Gabi, Büchert Martin, Thiel Thorsten, Rüsch Nicholas, Bubl Emanuel, Hennig Jürgen, Ebert Dieter, Olbrich Hans M
Department for Psychiatry, Albert-Ludwigs-University, Freiburg, Germany.
Biol Psychiatry. 2005 Nov 1;58(9):724-30. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2005.04.041. Epub 2005 Jul 14.
Glutamatergic dysfunction has been implicated in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. However, so far there is limited direct evidence of altered in vivo glutamate concentrations in the brains of patients with schizophrenia. To test the hypothesis that altered glutamatergic neurotransmission might play a role in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia, we measured glutamate and glutamine concentrations in the prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus of patients with chronic schizophrenia using high-field magnetic resonance spectroscopy.
Twenty-one patients with schizophrenia and 32 healthy volunteers were examined clinically and by means of short echo time single voxel magnetic resonance spectroscopy of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus. Absolute concentrations of neurometabolites were calculated.
Absolute concentrations of glutamate were significantly higher in the prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus in the patient group. Factorial analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed no significant interactions between duration of schizophrenia, number of hospitalizations, or type of antipsychotic medication and glutamate concentrations. Increased prefrontal glutamate concentrations were associated with poorer global mental functioning.
This is the first study that reports increased levels of glutamate in prefrontal and limbic areas in patients with schizophrenia. Our data support the hypothesis of glutamatergic dysfunction in schizophrenia.
谷氨酸能功能障碍与精神分裂症的病理生理学有关。然而，迄今为止，精神分裂症患者大脑中体内谷氨酸浓度改变的直接证据有限。为了检验谷氨酸能神经传递改变可能在精神分裂症发病机制中起作用的假设，我们使用高场磁共振波谱测量了慢性精神分裂症患者前额叶皮质和海马中的谷氨酸和谷氨酰胺浓度。
对21例精神分裂症患者和32名健康志愿者进行临床检查，并通过对背外侧前额叶皮质和海马进行短回波时间单体素磁共振波谱分析。计算神经代谢物的绝对浓度。
患者组前额叶皮质和海马中谷氨酸的绝对浓度显著更高。析因方差分析（ANOVA）显示，精神分裂症病程、住院次数或抗精神病药物类型与谷氨酸浓度之间无显著交互作用。前额叶谷氨酸浓度升高与整体精神功能较差有关。
这是第一项报道精神分裂症患者前额叶和边缘区域谷氨酸水平升高的研究。我们的数据支持精神分裂症中谷氨酸能功能障碍的假设。
