A Story about Schizophrenia Imaging and Metabolism

The author was already in the 1970s involved in Nuclear medicine imaging in Lund where David Ingvar and Göran Franzén studied the brain's regional blood flow in Schizophrenia patients. The introduction of magnetic resonance imaging MRI in the 1980th offered new methods for imaging CSF flow dynamics in the aqueduct. Functional fMRI may be another useful tool for defining the syndrome of Schizophrenia. Diffusion tensor imaging DTI and its combination with magnetic transfer imaging MTI indicate neuroinflammation in Schizophrenia.MR spectroscopy provides reliable quantification of more than fifteen different brain metabolites such as N-Acetyl Aspartic acid (NAA), Creatine, GABA, Glutamate, and Glutamine in various brain regions. Activation of the Tryptophan metabolism (TRYCAT) pathway appears to be involved in the development and pathophysiology of Schizophrenia. The dysfunction of the effect of the ¿-7nicotinic-acetyl-choline receptor (¿7nAChR) and/or the N-methyl-D-Aspartate receptor (NMDAR). seems to contribute to cognitive impairment in Schizophrenia motivating new therapeutic strategies The final chapter reviews serum biomarkers.