Hermien E. Kan1, Matthias J.P. van Osch1,
Maarten J. Versluis1, Aranee Techawiboonwong2, Dinesh
K. Deelchand3, Pierre G. Henry3, M Marjanska3,
Mark A. van Buchem1, Andrew G. Webb1, Itamar Ronen,
12
1C.J. Gorter Center, department of
radiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands; 2Radiology,
Boston University, Boston, United States; 3Center for Magnetic
Resonance Research and Department of Radiology, University of Minnesota,
Minneapolis, MN, United States
Assessment
of diffusive properties of metabolites using diffusion weighted spectroscopy
has so far been, in humans, limited to the brain metabolites N-acetyl
aspartate, creatine and phosphocreatine and choline. To further assess
substructural differences, it would be advantageous to also study ADCs of
other metabolites, like myo-inositol, glutamate and glutamine. In this study,
we obtained ADC values of these metabolites in human grey and white matter,
and observed that in grey matter overall ADCs were lower compared to white
matter with a significantly reduced glutamate. This is in agreement with
observations in monkeys, and indicates increased diffusion restriction in
grey matter.