| |
Abstract:
Abstract: The hippocampus is intricately involved in memory
and is the brain area most severely affected by Alzheimer's disease
(AD). Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) provides the ability to
examine human biochemistry in vivo. New methods allow us to examine
the hippocampus using MRS using short echo time. Findings in other
areas of the brain less critical for memory indicate that increases
in the myo-inositol (mI) to N-acetyl-aspartate (NAA) ratio
correlate with measures of severity and duration of dementia. Our
goal is to provide the first examination of the hippocampus in
healthy aging and Alzheimer's disease using short echo time MRS.
The spectral data are acquired using a stimulated echo localization
sequence (STEAM) with the following parameters: 20ms TE, 10ms TM,
4000ms TR, 128 averages, 1250 HZ spectral width and 1024 point free
induction decay. The localized volume of interest is allowed to
vary in size to accommodate individual differences in hippocampal
volume. Preliminary examination of differences in the patterns of
the proton spectra of AD patients and healthy elderly controls,
shows an increase in myo-inositol (mI) relative to (NAA). Examining
the biochemical changes in the hippocampus has the potential to
successfully discriminate biochemical differences between AD
patients and healthy controls, to understand the roles of these
chemicals in memory and to identify and track degenerative
cognitive processes.
|
