Project Summary

John E. N. Jensen, Ph.D. (Young Investigator 2004) of McLean Hospital/Harvard University, plans on using a novel magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) method his laboratory developed to measure gamma amino-butyric acid (GABA), an inhibitory neurotransmitter which is thought to play a role in panic disorder. With this tool, Dr. Jensen can examine GABA in several key regions within the brain, as well as the whole brain, to address the question of whether altered GABA levels are regional or global in nature. Prior imaging studies in panic disorder suggest that GABA is reduced throughout the brain globally compared to normal controls. But indirect GABA measurements and differing methodology in these studies leave unanswered the question of whether brain GABA deficits in panic disorder are global or focal in origin. This study will therefore compare a group of patients diagnosed with panic disorder to matched healthy controls to test the hypothesis that GABA levels are globally reduced in the brain in panic disorder.

Program Area: ANXIETY DISORDERS\Panic Disorder

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