Abstract #3416

Comparing MEGA-SPECIAL to MEGA-STEAM for Pure GABA Detection at 7T

He Zhu^1,2, Richard Edden^1,2, Ronald Ouwerkerk³, Peter B. Barker^1,2

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.