Differences in Brain Metabolites Between Patients With Autism and Mental Retardation as Detected by in Vivo Localized Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
Restricted accessOtherFirst published online February, 1997
Differences in Brain Metabolites Between Patients With Autism and Mental Retardation as Detected by in Vivo Localized Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
We performed volume-selective proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) of the brain with a 1.5 T magnet in 28 patients with autism, and compared the results with those from 28 age-matched patients with unclassified mental retardation and 25 age-matched healthy children. Peaks for N-acetylaspartate, choline and creatine, but not lactate, were observed in each group on 1H-MRS. The N-acetylaspartate/choline ratio was lower in patients with mental retardation than in patients with autism and controls (P = .05, respectively). However, there were no differences in the N-acetylaspartate/ choline ratios between patients with autism and controls, and the N-acetylaspartate/creatine and choline/creatine ratios did not differ among the three groups. These results suggest that N-acetylaspartate is decreased in patients with mental retardation and that a disorder or dysfunction of neurons in the brain exists. There also appear to be differences in the brain lesions or dysfunctions found in patients with autism and mental retardation. (J Child Neurol 1997;12:91-96).
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