AUTHOR=Younis Samaira , Hougaard Anders , Christensen Casper E. , Vestergaard Mark B. , Petersen Esben T. , Boer Vincent O. , Paulson Olaf B. , Ashina Messoud , Marsman Anouk , Larsson Henrik B. W. TITLE=Feasibility of Glutamate and GABA Detection in Pons and Thalamus at 3T and 7T by Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neuroscience VOLUME=14 YEAR=2020 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnins.2020.559314 DOI=10.3389/fnins.2020.559314 ISSN=1662-453X ABSTRACT=
Glutamate detection in pons and thalamus using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) after an intervention is of interest for studying various brain disorders. However, 1H-MRS in these brain regions is challenging and time-consuming, especially in longitudinal study designs. 1H-MRS of more cortical structures at the ultrahigh magnetic field strength of 7T yields an improved spectral output, including separation of the glutamate signal from the glutamine signal, in a shorter and more feasible scan time, as compared to conventional clinical field strengths. For this purpose, we compared the feasibility of 1H-MRS at 3T and 7T in pons and thalamus by applying a longitudinal study design of repeated measures on same day and three separate days at both field strength in five healthy participants. Total 1H-MRS acquisition time was reduced by a factor 3.75 for pons and by a factor 3 for thalamus at 7T as compared to 3T. We found higher spectral signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) (