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Comparison of the repeatability of GABA‐edited magnetic resonance spectroscopy with and without macromolecule suppression
Author(s) -
Mikkelsen Mark,
Singh Krish D.,
Sumner Petroc,
Evans C. John
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
magnetic resonance in medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.696
H-Index - 225
eISSN - 1522-2594
pISSN - 0740-3194
DOI - 10.1002/mrm.25699
Subject(s) - repeatability , gamma aminobutyric acid , aminobutyric acid , nuclear magnetic resonance , intraclass correlation , neurotransmitter , nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy , chemistry , gabaa receptor , glutamate receptor , spectroscopy , reproducibility , biochemistry , chromatography , receptor , physics , quantum mechanics
Purpose The inhibitory neurotransmitter γ‐aminobutyric acid (GABA) can be measured in vivo using edited magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), but quantification suffers from contamination by macromolecules (MM). It is possible to suppress this contamination using symmetric editing, but this procedure potentially compromises reliability of the GABA measurement. The aim of this study was to compare the repeatability of GABA‐edited MRS with and without MM suppression. Methods GABA′ (non‐MM contaminated) and GABA′+MM (MM‐contaminated) concentration was measured in the occipital lobe (OCC) and anterior cingulate (AC) using symmetric and standard editing ( n = 15). Each method was performed twice in each region. Results Within‐participant coefficients of variation for each technique were 4.0% (GABA′+MM) and 8.6% (GABA′) in the OCC and 14.8% (GABA′+MM) and 12.6% (GABA′) in the AC. Intraclass correlation coefficients were better for the suppression method than standard editing in both the OCC (0.72 versus 0.67) and AC (0.41 versus 0.16). These findings were replicated in the OCC of a second cohort ( n = 15). Conclusion Symmetric suppression is shown to be comparable in repeatability to standard GABA‐editing. Measuring a purer quantification of GABA becomes increasingly important as more research is conducted on links between GABA concentration, pathology and healthy behavior. Magn Reson Med 75:946–953, 2016. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.