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Measuring Cerebral and Cerebellar Glutathione in Children Using 1H MEGA-PRESS MRS
F Raschke1,2,3,4, R Noeske5, R A Dineen6,7,8
1From the National Center for Tumor Diseases (F.R.), Partner Site Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
Insights
Measuring brain glutathione in children is feasible using 1H MEGA-PRESS MRS. Glutathione levels were higher in the cerebellum compared to the parietal gray matter in healthy children.
Area of Science:
- Neuroimaging
- Neurochemistry
- Pediatric Neurology
Background:
- Glutathione is a key brain antioxidant.
- Its role in neurodegenerative disorders makes it a target for study.
- Measuring brain glutathione in children is important for understanding neurological health.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the feasibility of measuring brain glutathione in healthy, nonsedated children.
- To compare glutathione levels between the medial parietal gray matter and the cerebellum using 1H MEGA-PRESS MRS at 3T.
Main Methods:
- Utilized the 1H Mescher-Garwood point-resolved spectroscopy (MEGA-PRESS) sequence at 3T.
- Measured glutathione in the parietal gray matter of 6 children and the cerebellum of 11 children.
- Developed a postprocessing pipeline for spectral analysis and quantified metabolites using LCModel.
Main Results:
- Demonstrated the feasibility of measuring glutathione in nonsedated children.
- Found significantly higher glutathione levels in the cerebellum compared to the parietal gray matter.
- Observed agreement with published adult MRS data for other metabolites.
Conclusions:
- Glutathione can be reliably measured in the brains of healthy children using 1H MEGA-PRESS MRS.
- Cerebellar glutathione levels are significantly higher than in the parietal gray matter.
- This technique provides valuable insights into brain metabolite concentrations in pediatric populations.
Background And Purpose:
Glutathione is an important antioxidant in the human brain and therefore of interest in neurodegenerative disorders. The purpose of this study was to investigate the feasibility of measuring glutathione in healthy nonsedated children by using the 1H Mescher-Garwood point-resolved spectroscopy (MEGA-PRESS) sequence at 3T and to compare glutathione levels between the medial parietal gray matter and the cerebellum.
Materials And Methods:
Glutathione was measured using MEGA-PRESS MRS (TR = 1.8 seconds, TE = 131 ms) in the parietal gray matter (35 × 25 × 20 mm3) of 6 healthy children (10.0 ± 2.4 years of age; range, 7-14 years; 3 males) and in the cerebellum of 11 healthy children (12.0 ± 2.7 years of age; range, 7-16 years; 6 males). A postprocessing pipeline was developed to account for frequency and phase variations in the edited ON and nonedited OFF spectra. Metabolites were quantified with LCModel and reported both as ratios and water-scaled values. Glutathione was quantified in the ON-OFF spectra, whereas total NAA, total Cho, total Cr, mIns, Glx, and taurine were quantified in the OFF spectra.
Results:
We found significantly higher glutathione, total Cho, total Cr, mIns, and taurine in the cerebellum (P < .01). Glx and total NAA were significantly higher in the parietal gray matter (P < .01). There was no significant difference in glutathione/total Cr (P = .93) between parietal gray matter and cerebellum.
Conclusions:
We demonstrated that glutathione measurement in nonsedated children is feasible. We found significantly higher glutathione in the cerebellum compared with the parietal gray matter. Metabolite differences between the parietal gray matter and cerebellum agree with published MRS data in adults.
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