Diffusion tensor spectroscopy (DTS) of human brain

• Published in: Magnetic resonance in medicine Vol. 55; no. 1; pp. 1 - 8
• Main Authors: Ellegood, Jacob, Hanstock, Chris C., Beaulieu, Christian
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company 01.01.2006
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Anisotropy; Aspartic Acid - analogs & derivatives; Aspartic Acid - metabolism; Brain - metabolism; Brain Mapping - methods; Choline - metabolism; Creatine - metabolism; Diffusion; diffusion spectroscopy; diffusion tensor imaging; DTI; Female; human brain; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy - methods; Male; MRI; Phantoms, Imaging; Phosphocreatine - metabolism
• ISSN: 0740-3194; 1522-2594
• DOI: 10.1002/mrm.20777

The diffusion tensor of N‐acetyl aspartate (NAA), creatine and phosphocreatine (tCr), and choline (Cho) was measured at 3T using a diffusion weighted STEAM 1H‐MRS sequence in the healthy human brain in 6 distinct regions (4 white matter and 2 cortical gray matter). The Trace/3 apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) of each metabolite was significantly greater in white matter than gray matter. The Trace/3 ADC values of tCr and Cho were found to be significantly greater than NAA in white matter, whereas all 3 metabolites had similar Trace/3 ADC in cortical gray matter. Fractional anisotropy (FA) values for all 3 metabolites were consistent with water FA values in the 4 white matter regions; however, metabolite FA values were found to be higher than expected in the cortical gray matter. The principal diffusion direction derived for NAA was in good agreement with expected anatomic tract directions in the white matter. Magn Reson Med, 2006. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.