In vivo H-1 spectroscopy in humans at 1.5 T

Water-suppressed and section-selective proton (hydrogen-1) magnetic resonance (MR) spectra were recorded from human brain, leg muscle, liver, and heart with a 1.5-T imager. Signal from water was well suppressed, and resonances from several metabolites were consequently seen. The spectra from brains of healthy volunteers (n = 5) showed resonances from N-acetylaspartate, glutamine, aspartate, phosphocreatine/creatine, choline, taurine, and glycine. In five large brain meningiomas, resonances from N-acetyl-aspartate and phosphocreatine/creatine were either not visible or markedly decreased in intensity. The spectra from leg muscles of healthy volunteers showed resonances from protons in saturated fatty acyl chains, whereas resonances from unsaturated fatty acyl chains predominated in spectra from leg muscles of two patients with spina bifida. The spectra from livers of three healthy volunteers showed resonances from aliphatic and aromatic amino acids, choline, carnitine, and both saturated and unsaturated fatty acyl chains, and spectra from hearts of six healthy volunteers showed major resonances from phosphocreatine/creatine and taurine and smaller resonances from amino acids and fatty acyl chains.