Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité, University Medicine Berlin, Campus Mitte, Berlin, Germany.
Neuroimage. 2010 Jan 1;49(1):767-71. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.08.018. Epub 2009 Aug 13.
Decreased levels of N-acetylaspartate (NAA) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) have been linked to neuronal loss and psychiatric disorders like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. We previously found that BDNF serum concentration was predicted by the concentration of NAA in the ACC, indicating that neuronal integrity and vitality of a cortical region like the ACC, as reflected by a high concentration of NAA, might be related to high concentrations of BDNF in serum. Moreover, our recent finding that Val66Met genotype appears to predict the BDNF serum level in healthy human volunteers suggests the Met allele to be connected to higher concentrations of BDNF in serum. We examined absolute NAA concentrations in the ACC and hippocampus of 40 male and 42 female healthy volunteers (age: 33.3+/-9 years). We found NAA in the ACC to be significantly increased in Met carriers (F=5.2, df=1, p=0.025). On the other hand, the concentration of creatine+phosphocreatine in the hippocampus was significantly decreased in Met carriers. We hypothesize that higher NAA levels in the ACC might contribute to the protection of Met allele carriers against major psychiatric disorders as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
前扣带皮层 (ACC) 中 N-乙酰天冬氨酸 (NAA) 和脑源性神经营养因子 (BDNF) 水平的降低与神经元丧失和精神疾病如精神分裂症和双相情感障碍有关。我们之前发现 BDNF 血清浓度可由 ACC 中 NAA 的浓度预测，这表明 ACC 等皮质区域的神经元完整性和活力，如高浓度 NAA 所反映的，可能与血清中高浓度的 BDNF 有关。此外，我们最近发现 Val66Met 基因型似乎可以预测健康人类志愿者的 BDNF 血清水平，这表明 Met 等位基因与血清中更高浓度的 BDNF 有关。我们检查了 40 名男性和 42 名女性健康志愿者（年龄：33.3+/-9 岁）的 ACC 和海马体中的绝对 NAA 浓度。我们发现 ACC 中的 NAA 在 Met 携带者中显著增加（F=5.2，df=1，p=0.025）。另一方面，Met 携带者的海马体中的肌酸+磷酸肌酸浓度显著降低。我们假设 ACC 中更高的 NAA 水平可能有助于保护 Met 等位基因携带者免受精神分裂症和双相情感障碍等主要精神疾病的侵害。
