Regional Variations of Metabolite Concentrations in the Rat Brain Assessed with in vivo 1H MR Spectroscopy at 16.4T

Introduction In vivo H NMR spectroscopy provides a neurochemical profile containing invaluable information associated with energy metabolism, membrane metabolism, antioxidants and osmolytes [1]. Postnatal and regional changes in metabolite concentrations were reported in the rat [2] and the mouse brain [3], even in the very small region of the hypothalamus [4]. All these results demonstrated different metabolite concentrations in specific brain regions. The purpose of this study was 1) to demonstrate acquisitions of spectra in different brain regions at 16.4T 2) to investigate the anatomical distribution of cerebral metabolites.