[A proton magnetic spectroscopy research on hippocampus metabolisms in people with suicide-attempted depressions].

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the metabolic features of hippocampus in people with suicide-attempted depressions.

METHODS

Proton resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) was performed on the bilateral hippocampi of 24 patients with suicide-attempted depressions and 24 healthy people. The ratios of N-acetylasparte(NAA)/creatine (Cr), choline(Cho)/Cr and myoinositol(mI)/Cr were calculated and used as markers reflecting the metabolic levels of NAA, Cho and mI. The differences between the patients with suicide-attempted depressions and the healthy people were analyzed. The left hippocampus was also compared with the right to determine the asymmetry of the hippocampus metabolic.

RESULTS

The ratio of NAA/Cr in the left hippocampus of the patients with suicide-attempted depressions was significantly less than that of the healthy control (P < 0.05). The ratio of NAA/Cr in the left hippocampus was significantly greater than in the right hippocampus of the healthy control (P < 0.05). However, the left-right deference of the ratio of NAA/Cr disappeared in the patients with suicide-attempted depressions. There was an asymmetry between the left and right hippocampi in the healthy people (P < 0.05), but not in the patients with suicide-attempted depressions (P > 0.05). No correlations between the metabolic markers and the course of disease, number of episodes and HAMD17 scores were found in the patients with suicide-attempted depressions (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSION

There is a decrease of metabolite in the left hippocampus of patients with suicide-attempted depressions. The asymmetry of the bilateral hippocampi disappears in the patients with suicide-attempted depressions.