2D MR Spectroscopy Combined with Prior-Knowledge Fitting Is Sensitive to HCV-Associated Cerebral Metabolic Abnormalities. (12th July 2012)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Nagarajan, Rajakumar; Sarma, Manoj K.; Thames, April D.; Castellon, Steven A.; Hinkin, Charles H.; Thomas, M. Albert
• Other Names: Alvares-da-Silva Mario Reis Academic Editor.
• Is Part Of: International journal of hepatology. Volume 2012(2012)
• Publication Date: 2012-07-12
• Subjects: Hepatology -- Periodicals; Liver Diseases; Gastroenterology; Hepatology; Electronic journals; Periodicals; Periodicals; Fulltext; Internet Resources; Periodicals; 616.3
• DOI: 10.1155/2012/179365
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2090-3448

Abstract

Abstract : There is an evidence of neurocognitive dysfunction even in the absence of advanced liver disease in chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Brain metabolism has been investigated non-invasively using one-dimensional (1D) in vivo Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS) over three decades. Even though highly concentrated cerebral metabolites (N-acetylaspartate, creatine, choline, glutamate/glutamine, myo-inositol) have been detected using MRS, other metabolites at low concentrations (~1–3 mM or less) including glutathione, aspartate and GABA are quite difficult to observe using 1D MRS. In order to resolve overlapping resonances from a number of metabolites, a remedy is to add a second spectral dimension to the existing 1D MRS. Localized two-dimensional correlated spectroscopy (L-COSY) has been developed over the last decade to enhance the spectral dispersion by using the second spectral dimension. We have evaluated this L-COSY technique in the frontal white/gray matter regions of 14 HCV+ (mean age of 56.2 years) and 14 HCV− (mean age of 46.6 years) subjects. Our preliminary results showed significantly increased myo-inositol and glutathione in the HCV+ compared to the HCV− subjects. Hence, glutathione and myo-inositol should be considered along with other metabolites as important markers of inflammation.