Differential distribution of NAA and NAAG in human brain as determined by quantitative localized proton MRS

P. J W Pouwels, Jens Frahm

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Abstract

Quantitative proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy was performed in frontal, parietal and occipital white and gray matter of young adults with use of a fully relaxed, short-echo time stimulated echo acquisition mode localization sequence at 2.0 T. Separate concentrations of the neuronal compounds N-acetylaspartate (NAA) and N-acetylaspartylglutamate (NAAG) were obtained by user-independent spectral analysis (LCModel). Except for occipital gray matter in which an NAA concentration of 10.1± 1.0 mM correlated with enhanced neuronal density in visual cortex, NAA was found to be homogeneously distributed throughout cortical white and gray matter at a concentration of 8.0-8.9 mM. NAAG concentrations of 1.5-2.7 mM were higher in white matter than levels of 0.6-1.5 mM found in gray matter, contributing up to 25 % of total N-acetyl-containing compounds. The frontal to parieto- occipital increase of both gray and white matter NAAG levels is also reflected in the distribution of total NAA.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)73-78
Number of pages6
JournalNMR in biomedicine
Volume10
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Apr 1997
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Human brain
  • N-acetylaspartate
  • N-acetylaspartylglutamate
  • Proton spectroscopy

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