Our recent functional magnetic resonance (fMRI) studies reported that elevated neural responses to emotional stimuli are present in the early stages of psychotic disorders and in individuals at clinical high risk for psychosis. Our present study combined fMRI with proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) at 3T and shows that corticolimbic hyperresponsivity to emotion is directly related to glutamate concentrations in healthy people with subclinical psychotic-like experiences. These data not only support preclinical animal models of psychosis by demonstrating an important link between corticolimbic neurophysiology and neurotransmission, but also suggest a scientific basis for future development of novel interventions focused on emotional regulation to prevent or delay progression from the vulnerability to the psychotic state
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