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High choline concentrations in the caudate nucleus in antipsychotic-naive patients with schizophrenia
Juan R Bustillo1, Laura M Rowland, John Lauriello
1Department of Psychiatry, University of New Mexico School of Medicine, 87131, USA. jbustillo@salud.unm.edu
Objective:
Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy ((1)H-MRS) studies of medicated patients with schizophrenia suggest high choline levels in the caudate nucleus. However, assessments of antipsychotic-naive patients are needed.
Method:
The authors studied 11 antipsychotic-naive schizophrenia patients and 11 normal comparison subjects with single-voxel (1)H-MRS of the left caudate nucleus. Concentrations of N-acetylaspartate, choline, and creatine were determined and corrected for the proportion of cerebrospinal fluid in the voxel.
Results:
The patients with schizophrenia had significantly higher levels of choline than the comparison subjects, while the other two metabolites did not differ between groups.
Conclusions:
High caudate choline levels in schizophrenia are not secondary to antipsychotic treatment.