Increased Posterior Cingulate Glutamate and Choline Measured by Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy in Hypothyroidism

Patients with hypothyroidism always suffer from neuropsychiatric symptoms such as lack of concentration, anxiety, and depression. Recent studies show that the glutamatergic system is the key part to neuropsychiatric accommodation, although the fundamental process of the dysfunction is not well understood. Therefore, our study is devoted to investigate the change of brain metabolisms by focusing on glutamate concentration in patients with hypothyroidism. Using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy, we try to find out the possible correlation between hypothyroidism and glutamatergic system. Twenty-one untreated hypothyroidism patients and 21 age- and gender-matched controls were included in this study. Posterior cingulate cortex is the region of interest and was examined by magnetic resonance spectroscopy with a technique referred as TE-averaged PRESS at 3T field strength. The intensity of glutamate, choline, N -acetylaspartate and creatine was assessed utilizing jMRUI v4.0 software. Hypothyroid patients showed an increase of glutamate ( p = 0.013) and choline ( p = 0.01) in the posterior cingulate cortex compared with controls. Signal intensity of glutamate and choline increased in the region of the posterior cingulate cortex in patients with hypothyroidism. This change indicated a potential role of glutamate in the brain dysfunction in hypothyroidism, and a possible immunological mechanisms effect on Cho’s level.