MR spectroscopy: A powerful tool for investigating brain function and neurological diseases

Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) has attracted much attention in recent years and has become an important tool to study in vivo particular biochemical aspects of brain disorders. Since the proton is the most sensitive stable nucleus for MRS, and since almost all metabolites contain hydrogen atoms, investigation by in vivo H-1 MRS provides chemical information on tissue metabolites, thus enabling a non-invasive assessment of changes in brain metabolism underlying several brain diseases. In this review a brief description of the basic principles of MRS is given. Moreover, we provide some explanations on the techniques and technical problems related to the use of H-1 MRS in vivo including water suppression, localization, editing, quantitation and interpretation of H-1 spectra. Finally, we discuss the more recent advancement in three major areas of neurological diseases: brain tumors, multiple sclerosis, and inborn errors of metabolism.