Fig. 3: Forest plot showing summary Hedges’ g effect sizes for standardised mean differences (SMD) of glutamate measures.
From: Variability and magnitude of brain glutamate levels in schizophrenia: a meta and mega-analysis
A SMD in schizophrenia patients compared to healthy volunteers (HV). B SMD in patients treated with antipsychotic medication compared to HV. C SMD in antipsychotic-naïve patients compared to HV. Significant results are shown in green. Glutamate levels in the medial frontal cortex (MFC) were significantly lower in patients relative to HV, whereas glutamine levels in the thalamus (Thal) and Glx levels in the basal ganglia (BG) were significantly higher in patients relative to HV. There were no significant differences in glutamatergic metabolite levels in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), frontal white matter (fWM) or temporal lobe (Temp) between patients and HV. Significant differences in glutamatergic metabolites were no longer present when antipsychotic-naïve patients were assessed. Hedges’ g, 95% confidence intervals, P value and I2 presented.
