Ralf Mekle1,2, Giulio Gambarota1, Tanja Teichmann3, Kim Q. Do3, Rolf Gruetter1,4
1Laboratory for Functional and Metabolic Imaging (LIFMET), Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland; 2Department of Radiology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland; 3Center for Psychiatric Neuroscience, Department of Psychiatry, Lausanne University - CHUV, Lausanne, Switzerland; 4Departments of Radiology, Universities of Lausanne and Geneva, Lausanne and Geneva, Vaud, Switzerland
A neurochemical profile including the antioxidant glutathione (GSH) was measured with high precision using MRS for the application to schizophrenia. Localized proton spectra were acquired in the anterior cingulate for N=4 volunteers using the spin echo full intensity acquired localized (SPECIAL) MRS technique. Scans were performed on a clinical platform using a TEM volume coil at 3T. Results yielded excellent data quality and detection of GSH with mean Cramer-Rao lower bound (CRLB) of 9%. Fourteen additional metabolites were quantified with CRLBs below 20%. Detection precision was sufficiently high for treatment monitoring of schizophrenic patients after administration of therapeutic drugs.