Abstract #2632

Degaonkar M, Rao V, Barker P, Spiro J, Horska A

We hypothesized that TBI depressed subjects would have decreased NAA/Cho and/or NAA/Cr ratios in the frontal gray matter and basal ganglia as these regions have been implicated in structural imaging studies of the pathogenesis of post-TBI depression. Significant reduction of NAA in frontal and subcortical gray matter regions indicates diffuse axonal injury or metabolic depression. The results indicate that the reduction in NAA in post-TBI depression is mostly due to neuronal injury from TBI. We conclude that frontal cortical region and subcortical regions are more prone to TBI injury and neuronal injury due to functional changes may lead to TBI depression.