Mapping of cerebral metabolites in rats by 1H magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging. Distribution of metabolites in normal brain and postmortem changes.

The goal of this study was to examine metabolic differences between cortex and basal ganglia in normal rat brain and to determine postmortem changes using in vivo 1H magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging at 300 MHz. The resonances observed were: choline, creatine + phosphocreatine, N-acetyl aspartate (NAA), lactate (Lac), and three small resonances in the amino acid region which included resonances from aspartate + NAA (Asp), glutamine + NAA (Gln), and glutamate + GABA (Glu). A previously unassigned resonance was observed at 1.13 ppm in brain of rats anesthetized with pentobarbital. Spectroscopic images in normal brain demonstrated increased NAA and Gln and decreased Glu in cortex compared to basal ganglia. The major postmortem changes were an increase of Lac, Glu and Cho and a decrease of NAA and Asp. The rise in Lac was significantly higher in cortex than in basal ganglia.