Abstract #2373

Reproducibility and gender-related effects on macromolecule suppressed GABA and Glx metabolites

Muhammad Gulamabbas Saleh¹, A Alhamud¹, Jamie Near², Frances Robertson¹, André J.W. van der Kouwe³, and Ernesta M Meintjes¹

¹Human Biology, MRC/UCT Medical Imaging Research Unit, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa, ²Douglas Mental Health University Institute and Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada, ³Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA, United States

Several studies have characterized short and long term reproducibility of Glx and GABA+, but not macromolecule (MM) suppressed GABA. Further, gender-related differences have been observed in GABA+, but these may, in part, be due to inter-individual variations of MM. Motion and magnetic field inhomogeneity can hamper the consistent application of frequency-selective pulses at 1.7ppm necessary for effective GABA editing. We demonstrate that the shim and motion-navigated MEGA-SPECIAL sequence produces well-edited GABA and Glx spectra. LCModel quantification yields the best reproducibility. Observed gender-related differences in GABA highlight the need for gender-matching in studies investigating differences in GABA concentrations.

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