Concentrations of Glycogen and Choline Compounds in Human Liver Measured with 1H-MRS at 3T

Ronald Ouwerkerk¹, Ahmed Medhat Gharib¹, Monica Skarulis², Roderic I. Pettigrew¹, ³

Navigator gated single volume ¹H-MRS was used after B0 field mapping and manual shimming to obtain high quality liver spectra that allowed quantification of choline and glycogen, important metabolic markers in humans. Narrow line widths allowed more selective water suppression, avoiding saturation of glycogen. The T₂s of glycogen, choline water and lipid were measured and used to estimate the absolute concentrations of metabolites. Average concentration of MRS visible choline compounds in eleven healthy volunteers was 16.94.5 mmol/kg ww; the concentration of glycogen glycosyl units was 7836 mmol/kg ww. In-vivo measurement of liver choline and glycogen with ¹H-MRS can be an important tool for the study of metabolic disorders.