Premium
Metabolic change in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and its correlation with symptom severity in patients with generalized anxiety disorder: Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy at 3 T esla
Author(s) -
Moon ChungMan,
Kang HeoungKeun,
Jeong GwangWoo
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
psychiatry and clinical neurosciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.609
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1440-1819
pISSN - 1323-1316
DOI - 10.1111/pcn.12279
Subject(s) - proton magnetic resonance , dorsolateral prefrontal cortex , anxiety , prefrontal cortex , magnetic resonance imaging , correlation , psychology , nuclear magnetic resonance , generalized anxiety disorder , clinical psychology , medicine , psychiatry , neuroscience , cognition , physics , radiology , geometry , mathematics
Aims A few neuroimaging studies have demonstrated the key brain areas associated with generalized anxiety disorder ( GAD ). However, the brain metabolic changes in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex ( DLPFC ) of patients with GAD are unclear. This study utilized 3‐ T esla proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy ( 1 H ‐ MRS ) to assess the DLPFC metabolic change and its correlation with symptom severity in patients with GAD . Methods Patients with GAD diagnosed using the DSM‐IV ‐ TR and age‐matched healthy controls participated in this study. Brain metabolite concentrations were measured from a localized voxel on the DLPFC using 3‐ T esla 1 H ‐ MRS . Also, the volumetric composition of the gray matter and white matter volumes was assessed using voxel‐based morphometry. Results The choline/creatine and choline/ N ‐acetylaspartate ratios were significantly lower in patients than in controls. However, there were no significant differences in other metabolite ratios between the two groups. Choline concentrations were negatively correlated with anxiety levels as measured by the H amilton A nxiety R ating S cale and the G eneralized A nxiety D isorder S cale 7. There was no significant difference in the gray matter and white matter volumes in the MRS voxel between the two groups. Conclusions The present study demonstrates that GAD is associated with low a level of choline/ N ‐acetylaspartate in the DLPFC , which is closely related with symptom severity and cognitive dysfunction. This finding will be useful for an understanding of the neural mechanism associated with GAD .