Objective: The authors measured the ratio of N-acetyl aspartate (a putative neuronal marker) to creatine-phosphocreatine in patients with first-episode psychosis by using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS).
Method: Temporal lobe 1H MRS was performed bilaterally on 13 patients with first-episode psychosis and 15 comparison subjects. The N-acetyl aspartate/creatine-phosphocreatine and choline/creatine-phosphocreatine ratios were determined.
Results: The N-acetyl aspartate/creatine-phosphocreatine ratio of the psychotic patients was significantly lower than that of the comparison subjects.
Conclusions: These preliminary data suggest that abnormalities in temporal lobe N-acetyl aspartate concentration are present early in psychotic illness.