Regional differences in the concentrations of metabolites in the brain of healthy children : a proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1HMRS) study

Background: The aim of this ¹HMRS study was to identify any potential regional differences in the metabolic spectrum in the brains of healthy children. Material and methods: Forty-nine healthy children aged 6-15 years (mean 11.6 years) were examined, including 21 girls and 28 boys. A 1.5T MR system (xi Signa HD 1.5T General Electric) was used in patient examinations. The VOI (Volume of Interest) was defined in 7 locations: the frontal lobe in the right and left hemispheres, the basal ganglia in the right and left hemispheres, hippocampus in the right and left hemispheres and cerebellum. SAGE 7.0 software was used for the analysis of data obtained from the 1HMRS study. Differences in the concentrations of metabolites in various regions of the brain in children were verified using the t-test for independent samples. Results: There were significant differences in concentration levels between various brain regions for all the examined metabolites. NAA was the metabolite characterized by the greatest regional variation with significant differences being observed between all locations. Only in the case of Lip/Cr and the ratio of the Lip concentration to the sum of the concentrations of all the metabolites no significant differences could be observed. Conclusions: The results of the study show that a child’s brain is inhomogeneous. The results underline the need of the regional differences in the concentrations of metabolites being taken into account when comparing the results of 1HMRS studies in children.