Background: Current 31P spectroscopy research in schizophrenia has examined phospholipid metabolism by measuring the sum of phosphomonoesters and the sum of phosphodiester-containing molecules. Proton decoupling was implemented to measure the individual phosphomonoester and phosphodiester components. This is the first study employing this technique to examine schizophrenic patients.
Methods: Multivoxel two-dimensional chemical shift in vivo phosphorous-31 magnetic resonance spectroscopy with proton decoupling was used to examine a 50-cm3 volume in prefrontal, motor, and parieto-occipital regions in the brain. Eleven chronic medicated schizophrenic patients were compared to 11 healthy controls of comparable gender, education, parental education, and handedness.
Results: A significant increase in the mobile phospholipid peak area and its full width at half maximum was observed in the medicated schizophrenic patients compared to the healthy controls in the prefrontal region. Inorganic orthophosphate and phosphocholine were lower in the schizophrenic group in the prefrontal region.
Conclusions: The increased sum of phosphodiester [mobile phospholipid + glycerol-3-phosphoethanolamine (GPEth) + glycerol-3-phosphocholine (GPCh)] in schizophrenic patients, measured in earlier studies, arises from the phospholipid peak (MP) and not the more mobile phosphodiesters (GPEth, GPCh) as was originally suspected. A decrease in the phosphocholine component of the phosphomonoesters was also observed in the schizophrenic patients. These findings are consistent with an abnormality in membrane metabolism in the prefrontal region in schizophrenics.