School of Energy, Environmental, Biological, and Medical Engineering, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio45267-0583 , USA.
Magn Reson Med. 2012 Aug;68(2):363-8. doi: 10.1002/mrm.24361. Epub 2012 Jun 12.
This work demonstrates the first whole brain "high spatial resolution" (7)Li MR spectroscopy imaging in bipolar disorder subjects. The in vivo quantification is validated by a phantom containing 5 mM lithium salt using the identical radiofrequency sequence and imaging protocol. This study is the first demonstration of the (7)Li distribution in the brain of bipolar disorder patients on lithium therapy using a 3D MR spectroscopy imaging approach. The results show that brain lithium level is strongly correlated with serum lithium concentration. The brain-to-serum lithium ratios for the average brain and the local maximum were 0.39 ± 0.08 (r = 0.93) and 0.92 ± 0.16 (r = 0.90), respectively. The lithium distribution is found to be nonuniform throughout the brain for all patients, which is somewhat unexpected and highly intriguing. This uneven distribution is more evident in subjects at a higher therapeutic serum lithium level. This finding may suggest that lithium targets specific brain tissues and/or certain enzymatic and macromolecular sites that are associated with therapeutic effect. Further investigations of bipolar disorder patients on lithium therapy using 3D (7)Li MR spectroscopy imaging are warranted.
这项工作展示了首例在双相情感障碍患者中进行的全脑“高空间分辨率”（7）Li 磁共振波谱成像。通过使用相同的射频序列和成像方案，对含有 5mM 锂盐的体模进行了体内定量验证。这项研究首次通过 3D 磁共振波谱成像方法，展示了锂治疗的双相情感障碍患者大脑中的（7）Li 分布。结果表明，大脑中的锂水平与血清中的锂浓度密切相关。平均脑区和局部最大值的脑-血清锂比值分别为 0.39 ± 0.08（r = 0.93）和 0.92 ± 0.16（r = 0.90）。研究发现，所有患者的大脑中锂的分布并不均匀，这有些出人意料，也非常有趣。在血清锂治疗水平较高的患者中，这种不均匀分布更为明显。这一发现可能表明，锂靶向特定的脑组织和/或与治疗效果相关的特定酶和大分子部位。有必要对锂治疗的双相情感障碍患者进行进一步的 3D（7）Li 磁共振波谱成像研究。
