Hasler G van der Veen JW Geraci M Shen J Pine D Drevets WC 2009 BACKGROUND Panic disorder (PD) is hypothesized to be associated with altered function of the major inhibitory neurotransmitter, gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA). Previous proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) studies found lower GABA concentrations in the occipital cortex of subjects with PD relative to healthy control subjects. The current study is the first MRS study to compare GABA concentrations between unmedicated PD subjects and control subjects in the prefrontal cortex (PFC). METHODS Unmedicated subjects with PD (n = 17) and age- and sex-matched healthy control subjects (n = 17) were scanned on a 3 Tesla scanner using a transmit-receive head coil that provided a sufficiently homogenous radiofrequency field to obtain spectroscopic measurements in the dorsomedial/dorsal anterolateral and ventromedial areas of the PFC. RESULTS The prefrontal cortical GABA concentrations did not differ significantly between PD subjects and control subjects. There also was no statistically significant difference in glutamate/glutamine (Glx), choline, or N-acetyl aspartate concentrations. CONCLUSIONS The previously reported finding of reduced GABA concentrations in the occipital cortex of PD subjects does not appear to extend to the PFC. application/pdf https://sonar.ch/global/documents/47620 eng info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1016/j.biopsych.2008.06.023 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/pmid/18692172 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Biological psychiatry. - 2009 Adolescent Adult Aspartic Acid Brain Chemistry Choline Female Humans Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy Male Middle Aged Occipital Lobe Panic Disorder Prefrontal Cortex Psychiatric Status Rating Scales Young Adult gamma-Aminobutyric Acid Prefrontal cortical gamma-aminobutyric Acid levels in panic disorder determined by proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy. http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501