The correlation between abnormal metabolism in frontal lobe and hippocampus and cognitive dysfunction in first episode patients with major depression

Objective To investigate the correlation between abnormal metabolism of bilateral frontal lobe and hippocampus and cognitive dysfunction in first episode patients with major depression. Methods Twenty-one patients with major depression(MD)and 21 gender- and age-matched normal controls were involved.The neurochemical abnormalities including the levels of N-acetylaspartate(NAA), creatine/phosphocreatine(Cr),choline-containing compounds,glutamate/glntamine and myoinositol were measured by proton magnetic resonance spectroscope(~1H-MRS).The subjects were then assessed with neuropsychological tests.Results The left lobe NAA/Cr in patients was significantly positively correlated with the score of similarities and the categories completes of Wisconsin Card Sorting Test(r=0.60,r= 0.53).Right frontal lobe NAA/Cr in patients was significantly negatively correlated with time of trail marking test(r=-0.52).Conclusions The left lobe decreased NAA/Cr in patients with major depression may be significantly correlated with the poor abstract thinking ability and control function,and the right lobe decreased NAA/Cr correlated with poor attention.