Journal
AMINO ACIDS
Volume 23, Issue 1-3, Pages 317-323Publisher
SPRINGER WIEN
DOI: 10.1007/s00726-001-0144-0
Keywords
proton MR spectroscopy; neurodegeneration; N-acetylaspartate; Alzheimer's disease; motor neuron disease
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Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (H-1-MRS) is a non-invasive method to investigate changes in brain metabolite composition in different cerebral diseases. We performed proton spectroscopy in patients with dementia of the Alzheimer's type (AD) and in patients with motor neuron disease (MND) with the aim to detect the specific metabolic pattern for these neurodegenerative disorders. In the MND group we found a significant reduction of NAA/ tCr metabolite ratios in the motor cortex, which correlates with the disease severity and the clinical lateralization of neurological symptoms and further decreases in the time course of the disease. In AD patients a reduction of NAA/tCr was observed in the medial temporal lobe. Since NAA is exclusively expressed in neurons as shown by immunohistochemical studies, reduced NAA levels suggest neuronal loss or dysfunction in the observed regions. The observed regional metabolic alterations reflect the neuronal basis of the characteristic neurological symptoms in AD (dementia) and MND (muscular palsy) and mirrors the disease progress over time.
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