Md. De Bellis et al., N-acetylaspartate concentration in the anterior cingulate of maltreated children and adolescents with PTSD, AM J PSYCHI, 157(7), 2000, pp. 1175-1177
Objective: Anterior cingulate dysfunction has been implicated in the pathop
hysiology of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The authors hypothesized
that integrity of the anterior cingulate may be affected in childhood PTSD
.
Method: Single voxel proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (proton MRS) wa
s used to measure the relative concentration of N-acetylaspartate and creat
ine, a marker of neural integrity, in the anterior cingulate of 11 children
and adolescents who met DSM-IV criteria for PTSD secondary to maltreatment
and 11 healthy matched comparison subjects.
Results: The ratio of N-acetylaspartate to creatine was significantly lower
in the maltreated subjects with PTSD than in the comparison subjects.
Conclusions: The lower N-acetylaspartate/creatine ratio in subjects with PT
SD suggests that anterior cingulate neuronal metabolism may be altered in c
hildhood PTSD.