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Abstract #4137

Hippocampal metabolic abnormalities in Schizophrenia: a 3D multi-voxel MR spectroscopic imaging study

Ivan I. Kirov1,2, Emma J. Meyer1,2, Assaf Tal3, Matthew S. Davitz1,2, Dolores Malaspina4,5, and Oded Gonen1,2

1Center for Advanced Imaging Innovation and Research (CAI2R), New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, United States, 2Bernard and Irene Schwartz Center for Biomedical Imaging, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, United States, 3Chemical Physics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel, 4Psychiatry, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, United States, 5Institute for Social and Psychiatric Initiatives (InSPIRES), New York University Langone Medical Center, New York, NY, United States

The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that schizophrenia patients’ hippocampi are metabolically different from healthy controls’. Twenty-four patients and seven controls were studied with proton MR spectroscopic imaging at 3 T. Hippocampal volumes were also obtained. The findings were increased choline concentration in patients' hippocampi compared with controls, but no statistically significant changes in n-acetyl-aspartate or total creatine. While contrary to previous (mostly single-voxel) proton MR spectroscopy studies, these findings are nevertheless consistent with neuropathology reports of neither gliosis nor net neuronal loss. Bilateral hippocampal volume was 10% lower in the patients, consistent with previous reports.

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