Research findings implicate cerebral glutamate in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia, including genetic studies reporting associations with glutamatergic neurotransmission. The extent to which aberrant glutamate levels can be explained by genetic factors is unknown, and if glutamate can serve as a marker of genetic susceptibility for schizophrenia remains to be established. We investigated the heritability of cerebral glutamate levels and whether a potential association with schizophrenia spectrum disorders could be explained by genetic factors. Twenty-three monozygotic (MZ) and 20 dizygotic (DZ) proband pairs con- or discordant for schizophrenia spectrum disorders, along with healthy control pairs (MZ = 28, DZ = 18) were recruited via the National Danish Twin Register and the Psychiatric Central Register (17 additional twins were scanned without their siblings). Glutamate levels in the left thalamus and the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) were measured using 1[H]-magnetic resonance spectroscopy at 3 Tesla and analyzed by structural equation modeling. Glutamate levels in the left thalamus were heritable and positively correlated with liability for schizophrenia spectrum disorders (phenotypic correlation, 0.16, [0.02-0.29]; p = 0.010). The correlation was explained by common genes influencing both the levels of glutamate and liability for schizophrenia spectrum disorders. In the ACC, glutamate and glx levels were heritable, but not correlated to disease liability. Increases in thalamic glutamate levels found in schizophrenia spectrum disorders are explained by genetic influences related to the disease, and as such the measure could be a potential marker of genetic susceptibility, useful in early detection and stratification of patients with psychosis.

中文翻译：

---

脑谷氨酸水平的遗传性及其与精神分裂症谱系障碍的关联：一项 1[H]-光谱双胞胎研究。

研究结果表明脑谷氨酸与精神分裂症的病理生理学有关，包括报告与谷氨酸能神经传递相关的基因研究。遗传因素在多大程度上可以解释异常的谷氨酸水平尚不清楚，谷氨酸是否可以作为精神分裂症遗传易感性的标志仍有待确定。我们研究了大脑谷氨酸水平的遗传性，以及是否可以通过遗传因素来解释与精神分裂症谱系障碍的潜在关联。通过丹麦国家双胞胎登记处和精神病学中心招募了 23 对同卵 (MZ) 和 20 对异卵 (DZ) 先证者对精神分裂症谱系障碍，以及健康对照对 (MZ = 28，DZ = 18)。登记（另外 17 名双胞胎在没有兄弟姐妹的情况下进行了扫描）。使用 3 特斯拉的 1[H]-磁共振波谱测量左侧丘脑和前扣带皮层 (ACC) 的谷氨酸水平，并通过结构方程模型进行分析。左侧丘脑的谷氨酸水平具有遗传性，并且与精神分裂症谱系障碍的易感性呈正相关（表型相关性，0.16，[0.02-0.29]；p = 0.010）。这种相关性可以通过影响谷氨酸水平和精神分裂症谱系障碍的常见基因来解释。在 ACC 中，谷氨酸和 glx 水平是可遗传的，但与疾病易感性无关。精神分裂症谱系障碍中丘脑谷氨酸水平的增加可以通过与该疾病相关的遗传影响来解释，因此该测量可能是遗传易感性的潜在标志，有助于精神病患者的早期检测和分层。