Abstract
Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) is a completely noninvasive technique which allows the detection of brain metabolites’ concentrations in vivo. Brain metabolites are involved in energy processes, neuronal and membrane health, and in neurotransmission. The possibility of identifying changes in their concentration may open the way to early diagnosis and treatment evaluation in various pathologies.
In this chapter, the main principles behind brain MRS are briefly discussed, together with an overview of the primary clinical applications. Moreover, some concepts about data acquisition and processing are discussed, with the aim of facilitating MRS spectra analysis and interpretation.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Glunde K, Jiang L, Moestue SA, Gribbestad IS (2011) MRS and MRSI guidance in molecular medicine: targeting and monitoring of choline and glucose metabolism in cancer. NMR Biomed 24(6):673–690. https://doi.org/10.1002/nbm.1751. PMID: 21793073; PMCID: PMC3146026
Ramadan S, Lin A, Stanwell P (2013) Glutamate and glutamine: a review of in vivo MRS in the human brain. NMR Biomed 26(12):1630–1646. https://doi.org/10.1002/nbm.3045. Epub 2013 Oct 4. PMID: 24123328; PMCID: PMC3849600
Oz G, Alger JR, Barker PB, Bartha R, Bizzi A, Boesch C, Bolan PJ, Brindle KM, Cudalbu C, Dinçer A, Dydak U, Emir UE, Frahm J, González RG, Gruber S, Gruetter R, Gupta RK, Heerschap A, Henning A, Hetherington HP, Howe FA, Hüppi PS, Hurd RE, Kantarci K, Klomp DW, Kreis R, Kruiskamp MJ, Leach MO, Lin AP, Luijten PR, Marjańska M, Maudsley AA, Meyerhoff DJ, Mountford CE, Nelson SJ, Pamir MN, Pan JW, Peet AC, Poptani H, Posse S, Pouwels PJ, Ratai EM, Ross BD, Scheenen TW, Schuster C, Smith IC, Soher BJ, Tkáč I, Vigneron DB, Kauppinen RA, MRS Consensus Group (2014) Clinical proton MR spectroscopy in central nervous system disorders. Radiology 270(3):658–679. https://doi.org/10.1148/radiol.13130531. PMID: 24568703; PMCID: PMC4263653
Horská A, Barker PB (2010) Imaging of brain tumors: MR spectroscopy and metabolic imaging. Neuroimaging Clin N Am 20(3):293–310. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nic.2010.04.003. PMID: 20708548; PMCID: PMC2927327
Zhu H, Barker PB (2011) MR spectroscopy and spectroscopic imaging of the brain. Methods Mol Biol 711:203–226. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-61737-992-5_9. PMID: 21279603; PMCID: PMC3416028
Port JD (2020) Magnetic resonance spectroscopy for psychiatry: progress in the last decade. Neuroimaging Clin N Am 30(1):25–33. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nic.2019.09.002. Epub 2019 Nov 8. PMID: 31759569
Kumar V, Vajawat B, Rao NP (2021) Frontal GABA in schizophrenia: a meta-analysis of 1H-MRS studies. World J Biol Psychiatry 22(1):1–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/15622975.2020.1731925. Epub 2020 Mar 4. PMID: 32067569
Egerton A, Modinos G, Ferrera D, McGuire P (2017) Neuroimaging studies of GABA in schizophrenia: a systematic review with meta-analysis. Transl Psychiatry 7(6):e1147. https://doi.org/10.1038/tp.2017.124. PMID: 28585933; PMCID: PMC5537645
Poels EM, Kegeles LS, Kantrowitz JT, Javitt DC, Lieberman JA, Abi-Dargham A, Girgis RR (2014) Glutamatergic abnormalities in schizophrenia: a review of proton MRS findings. Schizophr Res 152(2–3):325–332. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.schres.2013.12.013. Epub 2014 Jan 11. PMID: 24418122; PMCID: PMC3951718
Merritt K, Egerton A, Kempton MJ, Taylor MJ, McGuire PK (2016) Nature of glutamate alterations in schizophrenia: a meta-analysis of proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy studies. JAMA Psychiatry 73(7):665–674. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2016.0442. PMID: 27304221
Brugger S, Davis JM, Leucht S, Stone JM (2011) Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy and illness stage in schizophrenia--a systematic review and meta-analysis. Biol Psychiatry 69(5):495–503. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2010.10.004. Epub 2010 Dec 8. PMID: 21145039
Iwata Y, Nakajima S, Plitman E, Mihashi Y, Caravaggio F, Chung JK, Kim J, Gerretsen P, Mimura M, Remington G, Graff-Guerrero A (2018) Neurometabolite levels in antipsychotic-naïve/free patients with schizophrenia: a systematic review and meta-analysis of 1H-MRS studies. Prog Neuro-Psychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry 86:340–352. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pnpbp.2018.03.016. Epub 2018 Mar 23. PMID: 29580804
Moriguchi S, Takamiya A, Noda Y, Horita N, Wada M, Tsugawa S, Plitman E, Sano Y, Tarumi R, ElSalhy M, Katayama N, Ogyu K, Miyazaki T, Kishimoto T, Graff-Guerrero A, Meyer JH, Blumberger DM, Daskalakis ZJ, Mimura M, Nakajima S (2019) Glutamatergic neurometabolite levels in major depressive disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis of proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy studies. Mol Psychiatry 24(7):952–964. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-018-0252-9. Epub 2018 Oct 12. PMID: 30315224; PMCID: PMC6755980
Luykx JJ, Laban KG, van den Heuvel MP, Boks MP, Mandl RC, Kahn RS, Bakker SC (2012) Region and state specific glutamate downregulation in major depressive disorder: a meta-analysis of (1)H-MRS findings. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 36(1):198–205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2011.05.014. Epub 2011 Jun 6. PMID: 21672551
Brambilla P, Stanley JA, Nicoletti MA, Sassi RB, Mallinger AG, Frank E, Kupfer DJ, Keshavan MS, Soares JC (2005) 1H Magnetic resonance spectroscopy study of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in unipolar mood disorder patients. Psychiatry Res 138(2):131–139. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pscychresns.2004.12.001. PMID: 15766636
Sosa-Moscoso B, Ullauri C, Chiriboga JD, Silva P, Haro F, Leon-Rojas JE (2022) Magnetic resonance spectroscopy and bipolar disorder: how feasible is this pairing? Cureus 14(3):e23690. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.23690. PMID: 35505758; PMCID: PMC9056012
Sassi RB, Stanley JA, Axelson D, Brambilla P, Nicoletti MA, Keshavan MS, Ramos RT, Ryan N, Birmaher B, Soares JC (2005) Reduced NAA levels in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex of young bipolar patients. Am J Psychiatry 162(11):2109–2115. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.162.11.2109. PMID: 16263851
Chabert J, Allauze E, Pereira B, Chassain C, De Chazeron I, Rotgé JY, Fossati P, Llorca PM, Samalin L (2022) Glutamatergic and N-acetylaspartate metabolites in bipolar disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis of proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy studies. Int J Mol Sci 23(16):8974. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms23168974. PMID: 36012234; PMCID: PMC9409038
Kraguljac NV, Reid M, White D, Jones R, den Hollander J, Lowman D, Lahti AC (2012) Neurometabolites in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder – a systematic review and meta-analysis. Psychiatry Res 203(2–3):111–125. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pscychresns.2012.02.003. Epub 2012 Sep 13. PMID: 22981426; PMCID: PMC3466386
Maddock RJ, Buonocore MH (2012) MR spectroscopic studies of the brain in psychiatric disorders. Curr Top Behav Neurosci 11:199–251. https://doi.org/10.1007/7854_2011_197. PMID: 22294088
Zabala A, Sánchez-González J, Parellada M, Moreno DM, Reig S, Burdalo MT, Robles O, Desco M, Arango C (2007) Findings of proton magnetic resonance spectometry in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in adolescents with first episodes of psychosis. Psychiatry Res 156:33–42
Squarcina L, Stanley JA, Bellani M, Altamura CA, Brambilla P (2017) A review of altered biochemistry in the anterior cingulate cortex of first-episode psychosis. Epidemiol Psychiatr Sci 26(2):122–128. https://doi.org/10.1017/S2045796016000895. Epub 2017 Jan 20. PMID: 28103961; PMCID: PMC6998769
Overbeek G, Gawne TJ, Reid MA, Kraguljac NV, Lahti AC (2021) A multimodal neuroimaging study investigating resting-state connectivity, glutamate and GABA at 7 T in first-episode psychosis. J Psychiatry Neurosci 46(6):E702–E710. https://doi.org/10.1503/jpn.210107. PMID: 34933941; PMCID: PMC8695527
Shakory S, Watts JJ, Hafizi S, Da Silva T, Khan S, Kiang M, Bagby RM, Chavez S, Mizrahi R (2018) Hippocampal glutamate metabolites and glial activation in clinical high risk and first episode psychosis. Neuropsychopharmacology 43(11):2249–2255. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41386-018-0163-0. Epub 2018 Jul 28. PMID: 30087434; PMCID: PMC6135774
Sivaraman S, Kraguljac NV, White DM, Morgan CJ, Gonzales SS, Lahti AC (2018) Neurometabolic abnormalities in the associative striatum in antipsychotic-naïve first episode psychosis patients. Psychiatry Res Neuroimaging 281:101–106. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pscychresns.2018.06.003. Epub 2018 Jun 9. PMID: 30286325; PMCID: PMC7874514
Soeiro-de-Souza MG, Otaduy MCG, Machado-Vieira R, Moreno RA, Nery FG, Leite C, Lafer B (2018) Lithium-associated anterior cingulate neurometabolic profile in euthymic Bipolar I disorder: a 1H-MRS study. J Affect Disord 241:192–199. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2018.08.039. Epub 2018 Aug 10. PMID: 30130684
Brambilla P, Stanley JA, Sassi RB, Nicoletti MA, Mallinger AG, Keshavan MS, Soares JC (2004) 1H MRS study of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in healthy individuals before and after lithium administration. Neuropsychopharmacology 29(10):1918–1924. https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.npp.1300520. PMID: 15257303
Stanley JA, Raz N (2018) Functional magnetic resonance spectroscopy: The “new” MRS for cognitive neuroscience and psychiatry research. Front Psychiatry. 9:76. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00076. PMID: 29593585; PMCID: PMC5857528
Mullins PG (2018) Towards a theory of functional magnetic resonance spectroscopy (fMRS): a meta-analysis and discussion of using MRS to measure changes in neurotransmitters in real time. Scand J Psychol 59(1):91–103. https://doi.org/10.1111/sjop.12411. PMID: 29356002
Provencher SW (2001) Automatic quantitation of localized in vivo 1H spectra with LCModel. NMR Biomed 14(4):260–264. https://doi.org/10.1002/nbm.698. PMID: 11410943
Stefan D, Di Cesare F, Andrasescu A, Popa E, Lazariev A, Vescovo E, Strbak O, Williams S, Starcuk Z, Cabanas M, van Ormondt D, Graveron-Demilly D (2009) Quantitation of magnetic resonance spectroscopy signals: the jMRUI software package. Meas Sci Technol 20:104035
Tkáč I, Deelchand D, Dreher W, Hetherington H, Kreis R, Kumaragamage C, Považan M, Spielman DM, Strasser B, de Graaf RA (2021) Water and lipid suppression techniques for advanced 1H MRS and MRSI of the human brain: experts’ consensus recommendations. NMR Biomed 34(5):e4459. https://doi.org/10.1002/nbm.4459. Epub 2020 Dec 16. PMID: 33327042; PMCID: PMC8569948
Wilson M, Reynolds G, Kauppinen RA, Arvanitis TN, Peet AC (2011) A constrained least-squares approach to the automated quantitation of in vivo 1 H magnetic resonance spectroscopy data. Magn Reson Med 65(1):1–12
van der Graaf M (2010) In vivo magnetic resonance spectroscopy: basic methodology and clinical applications. Eur Biophys J 39(4):527–540. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00249-009-0517-y. Epub 2009 Aug 13. PMID: 19680645; PMCID: PMC2841275
Bertholdo D, Watcharakorn A, Castillo M (2013) Brain proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy: introduction and overview. Neuroimaging Clin N Am 23(3):359–380. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nic.2012.10.002. Epub 2013 Jan 20. PMID: 23928194
Saleh MG, Edden RAE, Chang L, Ernst T (2020) Motion correction in magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Magn Reson Med. 84(5):2312–2326. https://doi.org/10.1002/mrm.28287. Epub 2020 Apr 17. PMID: 32301174; PMCID: PMC8386494
Acknowledgments
This work was partially funded by grants from the Italian Ministry of Health.
(RF-2019-12371349), Fondazione Cariplo (2019-3416), and ERA-NET NEURON (JTC2018: UNMET).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature
About this protocol
Cite this protocol
Squarcina, L., Brambilla, P. (2023). Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy. In: Stoyanov, D., Draganski, B., Brambilla, P., Lamm, C. (eds) Computational Neuroscience. Neuromethods, vol 199. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-3230-7_12
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-3230-7_12
Published:
Publisher Name: Humana, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-0716-3229-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-0716-3230-7
eBook Packages: Springer Protocols