Neuromolecular Brain Changes
after
ALCAR Treatment
Two Mildly Depressed Geriatric Subjects Compared with Controls Before and After 12-Week ALCAR Treatment
Neuromolecular differences in the brains of the two geriatric depressed subjects compared with 6 normal control subjects are shown by color figures. Measurements of the chemical differences are obtained by magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) experiments from 12 specific brain regions. If differences in chemical concentrations (geriatric depressed subjects compared to age-matched controls) are statistically significant (p < 0.05) they are illustrated by coloring the brain region where the difference occurred on a magnetic resonance image (MRI) of the brain. The intensity of the color is scaled to the z-score (mean difference/standard deviation) which is a measure of the effect size of the difference. An increase in chemical concentration is shown in red; a decrease is shown in blue. The beneficial clinical effects of ALCAR appear to be associated with changes in brain PME(s-τc) and PCr concentrations (Pettegrew et al., 2002). ALCAR treatment restores PME(s-τc) concentrations to normal in the occipital and inferior parietal brain regions and are reduced towards normal levels in the prefrontal region. PCr levels are elevated in the prefrontal, occipital, and parietal brain regions after 12 weeks of ALCAR treatment.