Abstract #0244

Alteration of T2 Relaxation and NAA Concentration in Schizophrenia Evaluated in Frontal White Matter at 3 T

Nuran Tunc-Skarka¹, Wolfgang Weber-Fahr¹, Mareen Hoerst¹, Susanne Englisch², Christine Esslinger², Dragos Inta², Alexander Guttschalk², Mathias Zink², Gabriele Ende¹

¹Department Neuroimaging, Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim, Germany; ²Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim, Germany

There are several studies that found reduced NAA in schizophrenic patients. This could be an indication that NAA concentration or relaxation might be different due to pathological microstructure changes. The major problem of individual metabolite relaxation time estimation is the long measurement time. Nevertheless, only with the knowledge of individual relaxation time it is possible to evaluate absolute concentrations. In this study we wanted to estimate absolute metabolite concentrations of the frontal white matter in schizophrenic patients while evaluating individual T2 relaxation time and to compare with healthy controls. We found differences in NAA concentration and T2 relaxation time.