He Zhu1,2, Richard Edden1,2,
Ronald Ouwerkerk3, Peter B. Barker1,2
1Radiology, Johns Hopkins
University, Baltimore, MD, United States; 2F.M. Kirby Research
Center, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD, United States; 3NIDDK,
National Institute of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States
γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is the most abundant inhibitory neurotransmitter. In vivo detection of GABA with Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS) is a major topic in clinical neuroscience research. In this abstract, a MEGA-SPECIAL sequence was implemented and compared to MEGA-STEAM on a 7T whole body scanner to acquire edited GABA spectra without macromolecule contamination. This technique has good sensitivity and can be used to reliably measure GABA at 7T free from macromolecular contamination.