Description:
<jats:sec><jats:title>ABSTRACT</jats:title></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>PURPOSE</jats:title><jats:p> <jats:bold>This study aims to assess cerebral metabolites in school‐aged autistic patients through proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy.</jats:bold> </jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>METHODS</jats:title><jats:p> <jats:bold>This case‐control study included 10 right‐handed male children (median age, 9.53 years ± 1.80) with autism according to DSM‐IV criteria, and 10 healthy age‐ and sex‐matched healthy controls (median age, 8.52 years ± 1.42). Imaging was performed on a 1.5‐T scanner utilizing a single voxel point‐resolved spectroscopy (PRESS) technique (TR = 1,500 ms, TE = 30 ms). Four cerebral areas were evaluated: bilateral anterior cingulate, left striatum, left cerebellar hemisphere, and left frontal lobe. Peak areas and ratios to creatine (Cr) of N‐acetylaspartate (NAA), choline (Cho), and <jats:italic>myo</jats:italic>‐inositol (mI) were analyzed.</jats:bold> </jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>RESULTS</jats:title><jats:p> <jats:bold>Compared with controls, autistic children showed a significant increase in mI (<jats:italic>P</jats:italic>= .021) and Cho (<jats:italic>P</jats:italic>= .042) peak areas in anterior cingulate and in mI/Cr ratio in anterior cingulate (<jats:italic>P</jats:italic>= .037) and left striatum (<jats:italic>P</jats:italic>= .035). The remaining metabolites and ratios were not significantly different between the 2 groups.</jats:bold> </jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>CONCLUSIONS</jats:title><jats:p> <jats:bold>This study found a statistically significant increase in myo‐inositol and choline in anterior cingulate and left striatum of autistic children compared with controls. In contrast to previous studies, NAA peak area and NAA/Cr and NAA/Cho ratios had no statistically significant decrease in any of the 4brain regions.</jats:bold> </jats:p></jats:sec>