Abstract： Objectives To explore the characteristic of different subtypes of depression on prefrontal lobe and hippocampus by proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS),and its relationship.Methods 46 patients of depression,which were met with the third edition of the Chinese Classification of Mental Disorders (CC-MD-Ⅲ ) since December 2010 to March 2012 from Mental Diseases Prevention and Treatment Institute,were examined at prefrontal lobe and hippocampus by multi-voxel 1 H-MRS.They were divided into male ( n =25) and female ( n =21 ),early-onset subtype ( n =26) and late-onset subtype ( n =20 ),short-duration of illness ( n =23 )and long-duration of illness ( n =23 ) by different criteria.The N-acetylaspartate ( NAA),Choline-congtaining compounds (Cho),and Creatine compounds (Cr) were measured and the ratios of NAA/Cr,Cho/Cr were determined.Results On left prefrontal lobe,the NAA/Cr ratios in patients of male ( 1.83 ± 0.19),late-onset subtype (1.86 ±0.16),and short-duration of illness ( 1.83 ±0.17) showed higher than those in female ( 1.70 ±0.12,t=2.711,P ＜ 0.01 ),early-onset subtype ( 1.70 ± 0.19,t =3.028,P ＜ 0.01 ),and long-duration of illness ( 1.71±0.20,t =2.192,P＜0.05).Both on left prefrontal and on left thalamus,the ratios of NAA/Cr were positively correlated with the age of onset ( r=0.493 and 0.478,P＜0.01 ),and were negatively correlated with the duration of illness ( r =- 0.482 and - 0.470,P ＜ 0.01 ).Conclusions Different subtypes of depression maybe have different characteristics of 1H-MRS due to the age of onset and the duration of illness.