Skip to main navigation menu Skip to main content Skip to site footer
##common.pageHeaderLogo.altText##

Research Article

Vol. 9 No. 1 (2006)

Choline in Pediatric Depression

  • Frank P MacMaster
  • Vivek Kusumakar
DOI
https://doi.org/10.26443/mjm.v9i1.605
Submitted
November 7, 2020
Published
2020-12-01

Abstract

Purpose of Study: The prefrontal cortex has been previously implicated in the neuropathology of major depressive disorder (MDD). Hence, we used proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) to examine choline levels in the prefrontal cortex of youth with major depression.

Basic Procedures: Twelve age- and sex-matched case-control pairs were examined (age range 10 to 18 years, 7 females and 5 males in each group). All subjects were treatment naive at the time of the scan. A long echo 1H-MRS scan was acquired from the right prefrontal cortex (4cc) in all subjects.

Main Findings: Right prefrontal Choline/Creatine ratios were elevated in the youth with mood disorders (F1, 11 = 10.741, p = 0.007) as compared with healthy controls.

Principal Conclusions: These findings suggest that prefrontal cytosolic choline may be increased in youth with MDD in comparison with healthy controls. This is consistent with reported findings in both adults and adolescents and suggests that MDD in youth is associated with alterations in choline metabolism in the prefrontal cortex.

References

  1. Charles HC, Lazeyras F, Krishnan KR, Boyko OB, Payne M, Moore D: Brain choline in depression: in vivo detection of potential pharmacodynamic effects of antidepressant therapy using hydrogen localized spectroscopy. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry 1994; 18:1121-7
  2. Hamakawa H, Kato T, Murashita J, Kato N: Quantitative proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy of the basal ganglia in patients with affective disorders. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 1998; 248: 53-8.
  3. Moore CM, Breeze JL, Gruber SA, Babb SM, Frederick BB, Villafuerte RA, Stoll AL, Hennen J, Yurgelun-Todd DA, Cohen BM, Renshaw PF: Choline, myo-inositol and mood in bipolar disorder: a proton magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging study of the anterior cingulate cortex. Bipolar Disord 2000; 2:207-16.
  4. Steingard RJ, Yurgelun-Todd DA, Hennen J, Moore JC, Moore CM, Vakili K, Young AD, Katic A, Beardslee WR, Renshaw PF: Increased orbitofrontal cortex levels of choline in depressed adolescents as detected by in vivo proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Biol Psychiatry 2000; 48: 1053-61.
  5. Rosenberg DR, Paulson LD Seraji-Bozorgzad N, Wilds IB, Stewart CM, Moore, GJ Brain: Chemistry in pediatric depression. Biol Psychiatry 2000; 47:95S.
  6. Renshaw PF, Lafer B, Babb SM, Fava M, Stoll AL, Christensen JD, Moore CM, Yurgelun-Todd DA, Bonello CM, Pillay SS, Rothschild AJ, Nierenberg AA, Rosenbaum JF, Cohen BM: Basal ganglia choline levels in depression and response to fluoxetine treatment: an in vivo proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy study. Biol Psychiatry 1997; 41: 837-43.
  7. Ende G, Braus DF, Walter S, Weber-Fahr W, Henn FA: The hippocampus in patients treated with electroconvulsive therapy: a proton magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging study. Arch Gen Psychiatry 2000; 57:937-43.
  8. Auer DP, Kraft E, Lipinski B, Schill J, Holsboer F: Reduced glutamate in the anterior cingulate cortex in depression: an in vivo proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy study. Biol Psychiatry 2000; 47: 305-13.
  9. Barker PB, Breiter SN, Soher BJ, Chatham JC, Forder JR, Samphilipo MA, Magee CA, Anderson JH: Quantitative proton spectroscopy of canine brain: in vivo and in vitro correlations. Magn Reson Med 1994; 32:157-63.
  10. Miller BL, Chang L, Booth R, Ernst T, Cornford M, Nikas D, McBride D, Jenden A: In vivo 1H MRS choline: correlation with in vitro chemistry/histology. Life Sci 1996; 58:1929-35.
  11. Birmaher B, Ryan ND, Williamson DE, Brent DA, Kaufman J, Dahl RE, Perel J, Nelson B: Childhood and adolescent depression: a review of the past 10 years. Part I. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 1996; 35(11): 1427-39.
  12. Klein J, Gonzalez R, Koppen A, Loffelholz K: Free choline and choline metabolites in rat brain and body fluids: sensitive determination and implications for choline supply to the brain. Neurochem Int 1993; 22:293-300.
  13. Frahm J, Bruhn H, Gyngell ML, Merboldt KD, Hanicke W, Sauter R: Localized proton NMR spectroscopy in different regions of the human brain in vivo: relaxation times and concentrations of cerebral metabolites. Magn Reson Med 1989; 11: 47-63.
  14. Michaelis T, Merboldt KD, Bruhn H, Hanicke W, Frahm J: Absolute concentrations of metabolites in the adult human brain in vivo: quantification of localized proton MR spectra. Radiology 1993; 187: 219-27.
  15. Duc CO, Weber AH, Trabesinger AH, Meier D, Boesiger P: Recycling the cholines. Int Soc Magn Reson Med 1997; 6:1210.
  16. Kennedy SH, Javanmard M, Vaccarino FJ: A review of functional neuroimaging in mood disorders: positron emission tomography and depression. Can J Psychiatry 1997; 42: 467-75.
  17. Soares JC, Mann JJ: The functional neuroanatomy of mood disorders. J Psychiatr Res 1997; 31:393-492.
  18. Nemeroff CB: The neurobiology of depression. Sci Am 1998; 278: 42-9.
  19. Bhatara VS, Tripathi RP, Sankar R, Gupta A, Khushu S: Frontal lobe proton magnetic-resonance spectroscopy in Graves' disease: a pilot study. Psychoneuroendocrinology 1998; 23: 605-12.
  20. Michaelis T., Ohl F., Fuchs E., Frahm J: Brain metabolite alterations after oral cortisol: a proton MRS study of tree shrews. In Int Soc Magn Reson Med Seventh Scientific Meeting and Exhibition, Philadelphia PA; 1999
  21. Khiat A, Bard C, Lacroix A, Boulanger Y: Recovery of the brain choline level in treated Cushing's patients as monitored by proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Brain Res 2000; 862:301-7.
  22. Exton JH: Hormonal regulation of phosphatidylcholine breakdown. Adv Second Messenger Phosphoprotein Res 1990; 24:152-7.
  23. Exton JH: Phosphatidylcholine breakdown and signal transduction. Biochem Biophys Acta 1994; 1212: 26-42.
  24. Loffelholz K: Receptor regulation of choline phospholipid hydrolysis. A novel source of diacylglycerol and phosphatidic acid. Biochem Pharmacol 1989; 38: 1543-49.
  25. Zeisel SH: Choline phospholipids: signal transduction and carcinogenesis. FASEB J 1993; 7: 551-7.
  26. MacMaster FP: Khan SC, Gates L, Kutcher SP, Kusumakar V. Prefrontal modulation of limbic activation during an emotional functional magnetic resonance imaging task. Brain and Cognition 2001; 47: 100-103.
  27. Kusumakar V, MacMaster FP, Schmidt M, Khan SC: Frontal-limbic morphology in early onset depression. Biol Psychiatry Suppl 2001; 49: 96S.
  28. Hashimoto T, Tayama M, Miyazaki M, Fujii E, Harada M, Miyoshi H, Tanouchi M, Kuroda Y: Developmental brain changes investigated with proton magnetic resonance
  29. spectroscopy. Dev Med Child Neurol 1995; 37: 398-405.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.