The diagnosis of schizophrenia prodrome is significant since early intervention may prevent the development of full-blown schizophrenia. With increasing evidence indicating that glutamate is involved in the incidence of schizophrenia, we hypothesize that glutamate could be an imaging biomarker in the diagnosis of prodromal schizophrenia. We applied the glutamate CEST imaging technique in schizophrenic models and demonstrates that glutamate changes in different regions of the brain at an early stage, which may provide a powerful indicator of the diagnosis of schizophrenia prodrome. In addition, the glutamate CEST image had excellent correlation with standard MR spectroscopy.
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