Department of Diagnostic Radiology, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, 40202, USA.
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, 40202, USA.
Mol Imaging Biol. 2019 Oct;21(5):812-817. doi: 10.1007/s11307-019-01333-6.
A mouse model of Alzheimer's disease demonstrates reduced beta-amyloid levels in the whole brain, associated with a gain of hippocampal memory, after drinking taurine-enriched water; this suggests that a taurine supplement could be a promising treatment for cognitive deficit. The objective of this study is to establish a methodology for quantifying taurine in the whole brain, taking advantage of the rapid development of non-invasive imaging techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS).
Single-voxel proton MRS was used to obtain quantifiable taurine peaks at 3.25 and 3.43 ppm. Quantitative MRS results were obtained in C57BL/6 mice of various age groups: 4, 11, 18, and 27 months old.
Compared with the 4-month-old group, taurine levels dropped significantly only at 27 months of age (p = 0.03). However, a significant decrease of N-acetyl-aspartate (NAA) in the brain was observed at both 18 and 27 months (p = 0.03 and p = 0.02). In addition, MRS-measured taurine level is highly correlated with hippocampal volume (r = 0.95).
These results suggest that decreased taurine levels in the brain could be used as biomarkers for hippocampal changes and are fully translatable into putative cognitive loss in both animal models and human studies without the ex vivo approach.
阿尔茨海默病的小鼠模型表明，饮用富含牛磺酸的水后，大脑整体的β-淀粉样蛋白水平降低，与海马记忆增强有关；这表明牛磺酸补充剂可能是治疗认知缺陷的有前途的方法。本研究的目的是建立一种定量分析大脑中牛磺酸的方法，利用磁共振成像和磁共振波谱（MRS）等非侵入性成像技术的快速发展。
单体素质子 MRS 用于在 3.25 和 3.43 ppm 处获得可量化的牛磺酸峰。对来自不同年龄组（4、11、18 和 27 个月）的 C57BL/6 小鼠进行定量 MRS 研究。
与 4 月龄组相比，仅在 27 月龄时牛磺酸水平显著下降（p = 0.03）。然而，在 18 和 27 月龄时，大脑中的 N-乙酰天冬氨酸（NAA）水平显著降低（p = 0.03 和 p = 0.02）。此外，MRS 测量的牛磺酸水平与海马体积高度相关（r = 0.95）。
这些结果表明，大脑中牛磺酸水平的降低可用作海马变化的生物标志物，并可完全转化为动物模型和人类研究中潜在的认知丧失，而无需进行离体方法。
