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Abstract #4310

Neurogenetics in the Pediatric Brain: A 1H MRS Study of Brain Development

Jack Knight-Scott1, Sarah Andrea Wijtenburg1

1Radiology, CHOA, Atlanta, GA, United States


Understanding normal brain development is essential to all basic and clinical research on pediatric brain disorders. In this work, we examine neurochemistry in the pediatric brain using STEAM at 3-T. In general, we detect higher neurogenetic activity in the pediatric brain, with nine metabolites showing significant differences from the adult brain. Relative to the adult brain, phosphorylethanolamine and GABA showed the largest increase; however, the most striking difference was the elevation of the 1.63-ppm M4 macrocmolecule resonance in the adult brain.