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T2 relaxation time abnormalities in bipolar disorder and schizophrenia
Dost Ongür1, Andrew P Prescot, J Eric Jensen
1McLean Hospital, Belmont, Massachusetts 02478, USA. dongur@partners.org
Magnetic Resonance in Medicine
|November 18, 2009
Summary
Bipolar disorder and schizophrenia show altered brain metabolite T2 relaxation times, suggesting cellular changes impact magnetic resonance spectroscopy findings. Measuring T2 relaxation is crucial for accurate psychiatric condition studies.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Biophysics
- Psychiatry
Background:
- Bipolar disorder and schizophrenia exhibit significant abnormalities in cortical neuron and glial cell characteristics.
- Cellular changes may influence metabolite signal characteristics due to molecule-microenvironment interactions, potentially affecting transverse (T2) relaxation times.
Purpose of the Study:
- To measure and compare T2 relaxation times of key intracellular metabolites in the anterior cingulate cortex and parieto-occipital cortex of healthy subjects, patients with bipolar disorder, and patients with schizophrenia.
- To investigate the relationship between cellular abnormalities and T2 relaxation times in psychiatric conditions.
Main Methods:
- Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) was employed at 4 Tesla to quantify T2 relaxation times for N-acetylaspartate+N-acetylaspartylglutamate, creatine+phosphocreatine, and choline-containing compounds.
- Data were acquired from 8-cc voxels in the anterior cingulate cortex and parieto-occipital cortex using a range of echo times (30-500 ms).
- Participants included 20 healthy subjects, 15 patients with bipolar disorder, and 15 patients with schizophrenia.
Main Results:
- Both bipolar disorder and schizophrenia groups demonstrated numerically shorter T2 relaxation times compared to healthy subjects in both brain regions.
- Statistically significant T2 relaxation time shortening was observed for creatine+phosphocreatine and choline-containing compounds in bipolar disorder.
- Significant T2 relaxation time shortening was found for choline-containing compounds in schizophrenia.
Conclusions:
- Shortened metabolite T2 relaxation times are consistent with reduced cell volumes and altered macromolecule structures in bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.
- These findings indicate that T2 relaxation effects can confound metabolite concentration measurements in psychiatric MRS studies.
- Accurate assessment of psychiatric conditions using MRS necessitates the measurement and correction for T2 relaxation variability.
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