Ultra-High Field Proton MR Spectroscopy in Early-Stage Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.

In this study, we measured neurochemical profiles using single-voxel (1)H-MRS at 7 T (T) and glutathione (GSH) levels using edited MRS at 3 T in 19 subjects with ALS who had relatively high functional status [ALS Functional Rating Scale-Revised (ALSFRS-R) mean ± SD = 39.8 ± 5.6] and 17 healthy controls. We observed significantly lower total N-acetylaspartate over mIns (tNAA/mIns) ratio in the motor cortex and pons of subjects with ALS versus healthy controls. No group differences were detected in GSH at 3 and 7 T. In subjects with ALS, the levels of tNAA, mIns, and Glu in the motor cortex were dependent on the extent of disease represented by El Escorial diagnostic subcategories. Specifically, combined probable/definite ALS had lower tNAA than possible ALS and controls (both p = 0.03), higher mIns than controls (p < 0.01), and lower Glu than possible ALS (p < 0.01). The effect of disease stage on MRS-measured metabolite levels may account for dissimilar findings among previous (1)H-MRS studies in ALS.
PMID: 28367604 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Source: Neurochemical Research - April 3, 2017 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Cheong I, Marjańska M, Deelchand DK, Eberly LE, Walk D, Öz G Tags: Neurochem Res Source Type: research