Abstract #1079

Evidence That Exposure to Escalating Doses of Vaporized Alcohol Causes Increase in the Concentration of Choline-Containing Compounds in the Basal Ganglia of the Rat

Dirk Mayer^1,2, Natalie M. Zahr^2,3, Juan Orduna², Edith V. Sullivan³, Adolf Pfefferbaum^2,3

¹Radiology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA; ²Neuroscience Program, SRI International, Menlo Park, CA, USA; ³Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

An MRS study using constant time point-resolved spectroscopy (CT-PRESS) of rats reported an increase in the signal from choline-containing compounds (Cho) in the basal ganglia with escalating exposure to vaporized alocohol. This signal change could be explained by either a change in concentration or in transverse relaxation constant (T₂). Here we used the CT-PRESS data to calculate the T₂s and echo-time corrected signal intensities. The results provide confirmation for the conclusion that the increase in Cho observed with increasing exposure to vaporized alcohol was due to an increase in metabolite concentration rather than a change in T₂.