Neurometabolic Differences in Psychosis Observed with 7 T Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy.
4 affiliations
- 1Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55454, United States.
- 2Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, United States.
- 3Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, Department of Radiology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, United States.
- 4Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Minneapolis, MN 55417, United States.
Abstract
Background
Altered brain chemistry is thought to contribute to impaired cognition and perceptual functioning in people with psychotic psychopathology (PwPP). As heritable genetic factors shape the development of psychosis, alterations in brain chemistry may extend to biological relatives of PwPP. Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) is a non-invasive method for quantifying concentrations of various neurochemicals in the human brain. Previous studies using MRS have generally focused on specific diagnoses (eg, schizophrenia), rather than PwPP trans-diagnostically, and comparably few studies have examined relatives. The goal of the current study was to assess neurometabolic differences in PwPP and relatives using MRS in a large number of participants.Study design
As part of the Psychosis Human Connectome Project, we acquired ultra-short echo time (8 ms) MRS data at 7 tesla in both occipital and prefrontal cortices from 64 PwPP, 42 first-degree biological relatives, and 43 controls.Study results
We observed lower levels of N-acetyl-aspartate (NAA) in the occipital lobe in PwPP and relatives versus controls, and a trend toward lower N-acetyl-aspartylglutamate in prefrontal cortex in PwPP versus controls. Lower OCC NAA levels were also evident in diagnostic subgroups of PwPP (schizophrenia and bipolar disorder) compared to controls. We also observed higher levels of glucose in both occipital and prefrontal cortices in PwPP. Hierarchical clustering analyses showed that higher glucose levels were linked to higher psychiatric symptoms, poorer cognition, and impaired visual task performance.Conclusions
Together, our findings point to alterations in neural metabolism across multiple brain areas in PwPP that are associated with impaired cognitive and perceptual functioning.
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BibTeX
@article{schallmo2026neurometabolic,
title = {{Neurometabolic Differences in Psychosis Observed with 7 T Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy.}},
author = {Michael-Paul Schallmo and Caroline Demro and Kyle W Killebrew and Aislin A Sheldon and Cheryl A Olman and Scott R Sponheim and Małgorzata Marjańska},
journal = {Schizophrenia bulletin},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1093/schbul/sbag137},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42951684},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Neurometabolic Differences in Psychosis Observed with 7 T Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy.
AU - Michael-Paul Schallmo
AU - Caroline Demro
AU - Kyle W Killebrew
AU - Aislin A Sheldon
AU - Cheryl A Olman
AU - Scott R Sponheim
AU - Małgorzata Marjańska
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/01
JO - Schizophrenia bulletin
DO - 10.1093/schbul/sbag137
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42951684
AB - Background Altered brain chemistry is thought to contribute to impaired cognition and perceptual functioning in people with psychotic psychopathology (PwPP). As heritable genetic factors shape the development of psychosis, alterations in brain chemistry may extend to biological relatives of PwPP. Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) is a non-invasive method for quantifying concentrations of various neurochemicals in the human brain. Previous studies using MRS have generally focused on specific diagnoses (eg, schizophrenia), rather than PwPP trans-diagnostically, and comparably few studies have examined relatives. The goal of the current study was to assess neurometabolic differences in PwPP and relatives using MRS in a large number of participants.Study design As part of the Psychosis Human Connectome Project, we acquired ultra-short echo time (8 ms) MRS data at 7 tesla in both occipital and prefrontal cortices from 64 PwPP, 42 first-degree biological relatives, and 43 controls.Study results We observed lower levels of N-acetyl-aspartate (NAA) in the occipital lobe in PwPP and relatives versus controls, and a trend toward lower N-acetyl-aspartylglutamate in prefrontal cortex in PwPP versus controls. Lower OCC NAA levels were also evident in diagnostic subgroups of PwPP (schizophrenia and bipolar disorder) compared to controls. We also observed higher levels of glucose in both occipital and prefrontal cortices in PwPP. Hierarchical clustering analyses showed that higher glucose levels were linked to higher psychiatric symptoms, poorer cognition, and impaired visual task performance.Conclusions Together, our findings point to alterations in neural metabolism across multiple brain areas in PwPP that are associated with impaired cognitive and perceptual functioning.
SN - 1787-9965
SN - 1745-1701
SN - 0586-7614
ER -