Forecasting the quality of water-suppressed 1

PURPOSE To investigate whether an initial non-water-suppressed acquisition that provides information about the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and linewidth is enough to forecast the maximally achievable final spectral quality and thus inform the operator whether the foreseen number of averages and achieved field homogeneity is adequate. METHODS A large range of spectra with varying SNR and linewidth was simulated and fitted with popular fitting programs to determine the dependence of fitting errors on linewidth and SNR. A tool to forecast variance based on a single acquisition was developed and its performance evaluated on simulated and in vivo data obtained at 3 Tesla from various brain regions and acquisition settings. RESULTS A strong correlation to real uncertainties in estimated metabolite contents was found for the forecast values and the Cramer-Rao lower bounds obtained from the water-suppressed spectra. CONCLUSION It appears to be possible to forecast the best-case errors associated with specific metabolites to be found in model fits of water-suppressed spectra based on a single water scan. Thus, nonspecialist operators will be able to judge ahead of time whether the planned acquisition can possibly be of sufficient quality to answer the targeted clinical question or whether it needs more averages or improved shimming. Magn Reson Med, 2016. © 2016 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine

The contribution of GABA to glutamate/glutamine cycling and energy metabolism in the rat cortex in vivo

Previous studies have shown that the glutamate/glutamine (Glu/Gln) neurotransmitter cycle and neuronal glucose oxidation are proportional (1:1), with increasing neuronal activity above isoelectricity. GABA, a product of Glu metabolism, is synthesized from astroglial Gln and contributes to total Glu/Gln neurotransmitter cycling, although the fraction contributed by GABA is unknown. In the present study, we used (13)C NMR spectroscopy together with i.v. infusions of [1,6-(13)C(2)]glucose and [2-(13)C]acetate to separately determine rates of Glu/Gln and GABA/Gln cycling and their respective tricarboxylic acid cycles in the rat cortex under conditions of halothane anesthesia and pentobarbital-induced isoelectricity. Under 1% halothane anesthesia, GABA/Gln cycle flux comprised 23% of total (Glu plus GABA) neurotransmitter cycling and 18% of total neuronal tricarboxylic acid cycle flux. In isoelectric cortex, glucose oxidation was reduced >3-fold in glutamatergic and GABAergic neurons, and neurotransmitter cycling was below detection. Hence, in both cell types, the primary energetic costs are associated with neurotransmission, which increase together as cortical activity is increased. The contribution of GABAergic neurons and inhibition to cortical energy metabolism has broad implications for the interpretation of functional imaging signals

Optimized in vivo brain glutamate measurement using long-echo-time semi-LASER at 7 T

A short echo time (TE) is commonly used for brain glutamate measurement by 1H MRS to minimize drawbacks of long TE such as signal modulation due to J evolution and T2 relaxation. However, J coupling causes the spectral patterns of glutamate to change with TE, and the shortest achievable TE may not produce the optimal glutamate measurement. The purpose of this study was to determine the optimal TE for glutamate measurement at 7 T using semi-LASER (localization by adiabatic selective refocusing). Time-domain simulations were performed to model the TE dependence of glutamate signal energy, a measure of glutamate signal strength, and were verified against measurements made in the human sensorimotor cortex (five subjects, 2 × 2 × 2 cm3 voxel, 16 averages) on a 7 T MRI scanner. Simulations showed a local maximum of glutamate signal energy at TE = 107 ms. In vivo, TE = 105 ms produced a low Cramér-Rao lower bound of 6.5 ± 2.0% across subjects, indicating high-quality fits of the prior knowledge model to in vivo data. TE = 105 ms also produced the greatest glutamate signal energy with the smallest inter-subject glutamate-to-creatine ratio (Glu/Cr) coefficient of variation (CV), 4.6%. Using these CVs, we performed sample size calculations to estimate the number of participants per group required to detect a 10% change in Glu/Cr between two groups with 95% confidence. 13 were required at TE = 45 ms, the shortest achievable echo time on our 7 T MRI scanner, while only 5 were required at TE = 105 ms, indicating greater statistical power. These results indicate that TE = 105 ms is optimum for in vivo glutamate measurement at 7 T with semi-LASER. Using long TE decreases power deposition by allowing lower maximum RF pulse amplitudes in conjunction with longer RF pulses. Importantly, long TE minimizes macromolecule contributions, eliminating the requirement for acquisition of separate macromolecule spectra or macromolecule fitting techniques, which add additional scan time or bias the estimated glutamate fit

Semi-LASER H-1 MR Spectroscopy at 7 Tesla in Human Brain: Metabolite Quantification Incorporating Subject-Specific Macromolecule Removal.

Purpose To develop an in vivo 1H short-echo-time semi-LASER spectroscopy protocol at 7 Tesla (T) incorporating subject-specific macromolecule removal. Methods T1 constants of the major metabolites were measured with little macromolecule contribution in seven healthy volunteers and used to optimize double inversion metabolite nulling. Spectra were acquired from parietal–occipital cortex of five healthy volunteers. Metabolite-nulled macromolecule spectra were subtracted from the metabolite spectra before fitting in the time domain with prior-knowledge templates. Absolute metabolite concentrations were determined by referencing to the water signal, following partial volume and relaxation corrections. Results The average signal to noise ratio, N-acetylaspartate peak height divided by the baseline noise standard deviation, was 48 ± 6. T1 constants for N-acetylaspartate, glutamate, creatine, and choline were 1.71 ± 0.15 s, 1.68 ± 0.19 s, 1.63 ± 0.10 s, and 1.41 ± 0.09 s, respectively. The optimal double inversion times for metabolite suppression were TI1 = 2.09 s and TI2 = 0.52 s. The coefficient of variation was less than 10% for N-acetylaspartate, creatine, choline, and myo-inositol, and less than 20% for glutamate and glutamine. Conclusion Short echo-time 1H semi-LASER spectroscopy at 7T incorporating subject-specific macromolecule removal yielded reproducible brain metabolite concentrations ideal for applications in disease conditions where macromolecule contributions may deviate from the norm. Magn Reson Med 74:4–12, 2015. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc