Gabriele Ende1, Nuran Tunc-Skarka1, Wolfgang Weber-Fahr1, Mareen Hoerst1, Matthias Ruf1, Monika Uhrig1, Derik Hermann2, Karl Mann2
1Neuroimaging, Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim, Germany; 2Department of Addictive Behavior and Addiction Medicine, Central Institute of Mental Health
The purpose of this study is to determine whether there are significant changes in glutamate concentrations in the anterior cingulate gyrus and frontal white matter in alcohol dependent patients during early detoxification in comparison to healthy controls and whether these changes parallel deficits in NAA and tCho concentrations. Alcoholic patients during early detoxification show reduced levels of Glu in fWM in addition to reduced tNAA and tCho. A rather weak correlation of Glu values acquired at TE = 30 and TE =80 ms gives rise to the suspicion that the separation of Glu from Gln and GABA is not reliable.