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Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS) is an analytical technique that can be used to complement the more common Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) in the characterization of tissue. Both techniques use signals from hydrogen protons (1H), however MRI uses the information to create 2-dimensional images of the brain, and MRS uses 1H signals to determine the relative concentrations of target brain metabolites.

History

Both MRI and MRS are based off of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (NMR), a technique used by chemists and physicists in the analysis and characterization of small molecules in solid, liquid, and gel-like solutions. Theoretically, MRS can be used to detect nuclei such as carbon (13C), nitrogen (15N), fluorine (19F), sodium (23Na), phosphorus (31P) and hydrogen (1H), however only the latter two are present in significant abundance to be detected in humans. Hydrogen MRS is the most commonly detected nuclei due to its high natural abundance, acute sensitivity to magnetic manipulation, well known simple technique, and relatively easily discernible spectra.

Data Acquisition

Acquiring an MRS scan is very similar to that of MRI with a few additional steps preceding data acquisition. These steps include: 1.) Shimming the magnetic field: this step is taken to correct for the inhomogeneity of the magnetic field by tuning different pulses in the x, y, and z directions. This step usually automated but can be performed manually 2.) Suppressing the water signal: because water molecules contain hydrogen, and the relative concentration of water to metabolite is about 10,000:1, the water signal must be suppressed or the metabolite peaks will not be discernible in the spectra. This is achieved by adding water suppression pulses. 3.) Choosing Spectroscopic Technique: requires proper planning of what you need to measure a. Single Voxel Spectroscopy (SVS): has spatial resolution of 1-8cm3, time efficient technique, data can be used quantitatively b. Chemical Shift Imaging (CSI): is a multi voxel technique that allows for measurement of larger volumes of tissue that can be divided into smaller voxels during the processing period c. Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopic Imaging (MRSI): is a 2-dimensional CSI technique that requires longer acquisition and processing time

The more common MRI is used to detect H2O molecules in the brain, however MRS is used to probe other molecules that are common to tumors by comparing MRS spectra with known “fingerprint” spectra.

Applications of MRS

In (1H) Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy each proton can be visualized at a specific chemical shift (peak position along x-axis) depending on its chemical environment. This chemical shift is dictated by neighboring protons within the molecule. Therefore, metabolites can be characterized by their unique set of 1H chemical shifts. The metabolites that MRS probes for have known (1H) chemical shifts that have previously been identified in NMR spectra. These metabolites include:

1.) N-acetyl Aspartate (NAA): with its major resonance peak at 2.02ppm, decrease in levels of NAA indicate loss or damage to neuronal tissue, which results from many types of insults to the brain. Its presence in normal conditions indicates neuronal and axonal integrity. 2.) Choline: with its major peak at 3.2ppm, choline is known to be associated with membrane turnover, or increase in cell division. Increased choline indicates increase in cell production or membrane breakdown, which can suggest demyelination or presence of malignant tumors. 3.) Creatine & phosphocreatine: with its major peak at 3.0ppm, creatine marks metabolism of brain energy. Gradual loss of creatine in conjunction with other major metabolites indicates tissue death or major cell death resulting from disease, injury or lack of blood supply. Increase in creatine concentration could be a response to cranialcerebral trauma. Absence of creatine may be indicative of a rare congenital disease. 4.) Lipids: with their major aliphatic peaks located in the 0.9-1.5ppm range, increase in lipids is seen is also indicative of necrosis. These spectra are easily contaminated, as lipids are not only present in the brain, but also in other biological tissue such as the fat in the scalp and area between the scalp and skull. 5.) Lactate: reveals itself as a doublet (two symmetric peaks in one) at 1.33ppm. Normally lactate is not visible, for its concentration is lower that the detection limit of MRS, however presence of this peak indicates glycolysis has been initiated in an oxygen deficient environment. Several causes of this include ischemia, hypoxia, mitochondrial disorders, and some types of tumors. 6.) Myo-inositol: with its major peak at 3.56ppm, an increase in Myo-inositol has been seen in patients with Alzheimer’s, dementia, and HIV patients. 7.) Glutamate and Glutamine: these amino acids are marked by a series of resonance peaks between 2.2 and 2.4ppm. Hyperammonemia, hepatic encephalopathy are two major conditions that result in elevated levels of glutamine and glutamate. MRS, used in conjunction with MRI or some other imaging technique, can be used to detect changes in the concentrations of these metabolites, or significantly abnormal concentrations of these metabolites.

References Preul, M. C., Caramanos, Z., Collins, D. L., Villemure, J., LeBlanc, R., Oliver, A., Pokrupa, R., & Arnold, D. L. (1996). Accurate, noninvasive diagnosis of human brain tumors by using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Nature Medicine, 2(3), 323-325. Retrieved from http://www.nature.com/naturemedicine Gujar, MD, S. K., Maheshwari, MD, S., Bjorkman-Burtscher, MD, PhD, I., & Sundgren,MD, PhD, P. C. (2005). Magnetic resonance spectroscopy. J Neuro-Opthalmol, 23(3), 217-226.