Kirsten Borup Bojesen
Glutamate and GABA brain levels during the first ten years of illness in patients with psychosis
Kirsten Borup Bojesen, Mental Health Centre Glostrup, has received a Lundbeck Foundation Early-Career Clinician Scientist grant worth DKK 2,500,000.
About the project
Glutamatergic and GABAergic brain disturbances have been related to poor treatment outcome and pronounced cognitive deficits in first-episode patients with psychosis, but it is unknown if the disturbances persist as no longitudinal study has re-examined brain glutamate and GABA levels after ten years illness. However, this is clinically important as approximately 30% of patients are treatment resistant to antipsychotics and may gain from treatment with glutamate and GABA modulating compounds. Moreover, sex differences in glutamatergic- and GABAergic brain disturbances has not been investigated.
The aim of the project is to re-examine brain glutamate and GABA levels after ten year's illness in a large group of initially antipsychotic patients (N=65, 55% females) with first-episode psychosis originally recruited from 2014-2019.
Kirsten Borup Bojesen has previously found an association between glutamatergic and GABAergic brain disturbances at illness onset and poor subsequent short-term treatment outcome as well as cognitive deficits. This longitudinal follow-up study can reveal if glutamatergic and GABAergic disturbances and the relation to treatment outcome as well as cognitive deficits persist in the chronic phase of illness. Moreover, the study can reveal sex differences in glutamatergic and GABAergic disturbances. The findings are clinically important as they may guide future treatment with glutamate or GABA modulating compounds.
