Glutamate levels in antipsychotic-free, first-episode psychosis: a 7-tesla MRS study across five brain regions. Download PDF Abstract Disrupted glutamatergic signaling across cortical and subcortical circuits is increasingly recognized as a critical player in the pathophysiology of psychosis. 47 patients (22.4 ± 3.4 years; 25 female) and 21 healthy controls (23.5 ± 2.6 years; 12 female) underwent 7 T MRS with voxels placed in the anterior cingulate cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, basal ganglia, hippocampus, and thalamus.
In the primary analyses we tested region-wise group differences in glutamate concentrations using ANCOVA. Exploratory analyses examined inter-regional glutamate correlations and associations with symptom severity. Regional glutamate concentrations did not differ between groups (all p > 0.2), and a nominally significant association between basal ganglia glutamate and negative symptoms did not survive correction for multiple comparisons.
Exploratory analyses revealed that FEP patients, in contrast to controls, showed significant inter-regional glutamate correlations across six of ten region pairs (r = 0.3–0.4; p = 0.01–0.04), spanning cortical-cortical, cortical-subcortical, and subcortical-subcortical connections. Four of these correlations were associated with positive symptom severity (p = 0.03–0.05).
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