Application of proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy in metabolic alterations of prefrontal white and gray matter in depression adolescents

Table 1 General data comparison

	Research group (n = 31)	Control group (n = 35)	χ2/t	P value
Sex			0.035	0.851
Male	14	15
Female	17	20
Age (year)	15.5 ± 1.6	15.1 ± 1.4	1.083	0.283
BMI (kg/m2)	22.3 ± 1.8	22.9 ± 1.6	1.434	0.156
Educational level			1.159	0.560
Primary school	8	6
Junior high school	17	19
Senior high school/vocational high school	6	10

BMI: Body mass index

Table 2 Comparison of brain biochemical metabolism of the prefrontal white matter

	Control (n = 35)		Research (n = 31)
	Left	Right	Left	Right
NAA/Cr	2.11 ± 0.24	2.03 ± 0.52	1.66 ± 0.42a	1.64 ± 0.27a
Cho/Cr	1.71 ± 0.19	1.50 ± 0.16	1.13 ± 0.28a	1.15 ± 0.17a
mI/Cr	0.14 ± 0.05	0.12 ± 0.04	0.16 ± 0.06	0.15 ± 0.08

^aP < 0.05 vs the same side of the control group.

NAA: N-acetyl-aspartate; Cr: Creatine; Cho: Choline; mI: Myo-inositol.

Table 3 Comparison of brain biochemical metabolism of the anterior cingulate gray matter

	Control (n = 35)		Research (n = 31)
	Left	Right	Left	Right
NAA/Cr	1.62 ± 0.28	1.60 ± 0.31	1.56 ± 0.32	1.55 ± 0.37
Cho/Cr	1.16 ± 0.18	1.15 ± 0.23	1.13 ± 0.10	1.15 ± 0.18
mI/Cr	0.17 ± 0.04	0.15 ± 0.03	0.17 ± 0.05	0.14 ± 0.05

NAA: N-acetyl-aspartate; Cr: Creatine; Cho: Choline; mI: Myo-inositol.

Table 4 Comparison of brain biochemical metabolism of the thalamus

	Control (n = 35)		Research (n = 31)
	Left	Right	Left	Right
NAA/Cr	2.05 ± 0.34	1.99 ± 0.37	1.96 ± 0.44	1.89 ± 0.39
Cho/Cr	1.31 ± 0.26	1.27 ± 0.23	0.94 ± 0.23a	0.93 ± 0.14a
mI/Cr	0.32 ± 0.13	0.10 ± 0.01	0.20 ± 0.06a	0.19 ± 0.10a

^aP < 0.05 vs the same side of the control group.

NAA: N-acetyl-aspartate; Cr: Creatine; Cho: Choline; mI: Myo-inositol.

Table 5 Correlation analysis between proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy findings and scale scores in the research group

		HAMD-24	MQ
Prefrontal white matter
NAA/Cr	Left	-0.511a	0.307
	Right	-0.425a	0.367a
Cho/Cr	Left	-0.407a	0.382a
	Right	-0.481a	0.335
mI/Cr	Left	-0.178	0.221
	Right	-0.018	0.004
Anterior cingulate gray matter
NAA/Cr	Left	0.134	-0.193
	Right	-0.152	-0.030
Cho/Cr	Left	0.156	-0.283
	Right	-0.038	-0.094
mI/Cr	Left	0.165	-0.079
	Right	0.095	-0.033
Thalamus
NAA/Cr	Left	-0.086	-0.005
	Right	-0.106	0.020
Cho/Cr	Left	-0.457a	0.374a
	Right	-0.392a	0.431a
mI/Cr	Left	-0.596a	0.492a
	Right	-0.482a	0.397a

^aP < 0.05.

MQ: Memory quotient; HAMD-24: 24-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale; NAA: N-acetyl-aspartate; Cr: Creatine; Cho: Choline; mI: Myo-inositol.