Prefrontal GABA and glutathione imbalance in posttraumatic stress disorder: Preliminary findings.

Michels, Lars; Schulte-Vels, Thomas; Schick, Matthis; O'Gorman, Ruth L; Zeffiro, Thomas; Hasler, Gregor; Mueller-Pfeiffer, Christoph (2014). Prefrontal GABA and glutathione imbalance in posttraumatic stress disorder: Preliminary findings. Psychiatry research, 224(3), pp. 288-295. Elsevier 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2014.09.007

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Although posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with a variety of structural and functional brain changes, the molecular pathophysiological mechanisms underlying these macroscopic alterations are unknown. Recent studies support the existence of an altered excitation-inhibition balance in PTSD. Further, there is preliminary evidence from blood-sample studies suggesting heightened oxidative stress in PTSD, potentially leading to neural damage through excessive brain levels of free radicals. In this study we investigated PTSD (n=12) and non-PTSD participants (n=17) using single-voxel proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). We found significantly higher levels of γ-amino butyric acid (GABA) (a primary inhibitory neurotransmitter) and glutathione (a marker for neuronal oxidative stress) in PTSD participants. Atypically high prefrontal inhibition as well as oxidative stress may be involved in the pathogenesis of PTSD.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

04 Faculty of Medicine > University Psychiatric Services > University Hospital of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy > Healthcare Research
04 Faculty of Medicine > University Psychiatric Services > University Hospital of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy

UniBE Contributor:

Hasler, Gregor

Subjects:

500 Science > 570 Life sciences; biology

ISSN:

0165-1781

Publisher:

Elsevier

Language:

English

Submitter:

Gregor Hasler

Date Deposited:

18 Dec 2014 15:47

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 14:38

Publisher DOI:

10.1016/j.pscychresns.2014.09.007

PubMed ID:

25448399

Uncontrolled Keywords:

Anterior cingulate cortex, Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, Gamma-amino-butyric acid (GABA), N-acetyl aspartate (NAA), Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.60995

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/60995

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