Study of combined 1H-MRS and T2 signals in prefrontal cortex of schizophrenia

Zhang Yuan; Song Huihui; Gu Weiguo; Sun Hongyan; Yuan Nian

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1009-6574.2018.04.003

Abstract：Objective Two methods of combined magnetic resonance proton spectroscopy (1H-MRS) and T2 signal intensity were used to study the prefrontal cortex of first episode schizophrenic patients, and to explore the changes and potential relationships of the patients with schizophrenia.Methods Thirty-four first-episode drug-free schizophrenics and thirty-five healthy subjects were enrolled and underwent1H-MRS and FSE-T2 sequencing. All subjects underwent1H-MRS and fast spin echo T2 sequences in the prefrontal cortex respectively. The metabolic indexes of prefrontal cortex and the changes of T2 signal intensity in patients with schizophrenia were explored. Additionally, the correlation between the related positive indexes and PANSS score were analyzed.Results Compared with the control group, the ratio of NAA/Cr of bilateral prefrontal cortex of the patients with schizophrenia decreased significantly, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). While there was no significant difference in Cho/Cr of bilateral prefrontal cortex between the two groups (P>0.05). There were significant differences of the T2 signal intensity in the in the upper frontal (t=2.07, 2.18;P<0.05),while there were no significant differences in the middle frontal and inferior frontal (P>0.05). The MRI-T2 signal intensity in the left upper frontal was positively related to the negative syndrome scale and total score of PANSS (r=0.57,0.49;P<0.05).Conclusions The combination of the1H-MRS and T2 sequencing in prefrontal cortex of patients with first-episode schizophrenics can become a new idea in the early diagnosis of schizophrenia, and this idea may explain the causal relationship between the neuronal metabolic abnormalities and pathologic changes of the prefrontal cortex in schizophrenics.