# Ultra-high field GluCEST MRI and MRS in youth at risk for psychosis

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA · 2021 · $759,049

## Abstract

ABSTRACT: Psychosis commonly develops in adolescence or early adulthood. Malfunctioning
neurotransmitter systems, such as glutamate, are implicated in the disease progression of psychosis. Changes
in brain glutamate in psychosis likely have several sources, as such, many frontline antipsychotic medications
indirectly target the glutamate system and alleviate clinical symptoms. Unfortunately, monitoring in vivo
alterations of the glutamate system within the brain are spatially limited by traditional magnetic resonance
techniques. But, recently a novel 7T MRI technique (GluCEST) has shown that brain glutamate levels are
lower across the brain in youth on the psychosis spectrum and patients with schizophrenia as compared to
typically developing youth. Here, we propose to extend this novel work to directly measure glutamate within the
brain of patients at risk for developing psychosis. Thus, this proposal is motivated by the need to better
understand associations of brain neurochemistry, structure and function in both normal development and
during early psychosis. In this study, we seek to 1) compare measures of glutamatergic development across
the cortex in a cohort of typically developing (TD) youth, those at-clinical high-risk for psychosis (CHR) and
individuals with frank psychosis (PSY); 2) associate changes in brain glutamate with age- and diagnosis-
related structural network changes in those at risk for developing psychosis; and 3) to establish comparison
data of glutamate measures at 7T MRI (1HMRS vs. GluCEST). We will recruit and follow 35 TD, CHR and PSY
over the 5-year funding period. Imaging data will be acquired at 7T and analyses will leverage recent advances
in network science and machine learning. We believe this innovative approach can significantly advance our
understanding of the etiology of glutamate hypofunction in psychosis and provide advances to precision
medicine in psychiatry. Through the proposed multi-level analysis, this innovative research will provide a
substantial advance in our understanding of the neurodevelopmental substrates of psychosis.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10162387
- **Project number:** 5R01MH120174-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
- **Principal Investigator:** DAVID REID ROALF
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $759,049
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-05-10 → 2025-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10162387

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10162387, Ultra-high field GluCEST MRI and MRS in youth at risk for psychosis (5R01MH120174-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10162387. Licensed CC0.

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