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In vivo γ‐aminobutyric acid measurement in rats with spectral editing at 4.7T
Author(s) -
Sawiak Stephen J.,
Jupp Bianca,
Taylor Tom,
Caprioli Daniele,
Carpenter T. Adrian,
Dalley Jeffrey W.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of magnetic resonance imaging
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.563
H-Index - 160
eISSN - 1522-2586
pISSN - 1053-1807
DOI - 10.1002/jmri.25093
Subject(s) - striatum , ventral striatum , impulsivity , in vivo , endophenotype , neuroscience , gamma aminobutyric acid , medicine , endocrinology , biology , chemistry , psychology , cognition , dopamine , developmental psychology , microbiology and biotechnology , receptor
Purpose To evaluate the feasibility of spectral editing for quantification of γ‐aminobutyric acid (GABA) in the rat brain and to determine whether altered GABA concentration in the ventral striatum is a neural endophenotype associated with trait‐like impulsive behavior. Materials and Methods Spectra were acquired at 4.7T for 23 male Lister‐hooded rats that had been previously screened for extremely low and high impulsivity phenotypes on an automated behavioral task ( n = 11 low‐impulsive; n = 12 high‐impulsive). Voxels of 3 × 7 × 4 mm 3 (84 μL) centered bilaterally across the ventral striatum were used to evaluate GABA concentration ratios. Results Quantifiable GABA signals in the ventral striatum were obtained for all rats. Mean‐edited GABA to n‐acetyl aspartate (NAA) ratios in the ventral striatum were 0.22 (95% confidence interval [CI] [0.18, 0.25]). Mean GABA/NAA ratios in this region were significantly decreased by 28% in high‐impulsive rats compared to low‐impulsive rats ( P = 0.02; 95% CI [–53%, –2%]). Conclusion These findings demonstrate that spectral editing at 4.7T is a feasible method to assess in vivo GABA concentrations in the rat brain. The results show that diminished GABA content in the ventral striatum may be a neural endophenotype associated with impulsivity. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2016;43:1308–1312.