In vivo magnetic resonance spectroscopy of GABA: A methodological review

摘要

Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) is a powerful methodology that allows the direct detection of endogenous metabolites in the human body non-invasively in vivo. Although historically most often applied within a clinical context, there is increasing uptake (as there is with structural and functional MR imaging) of MRS to study the healthy brain. Although the principal inhibitory neurotransmitter in the human brain GABA, or c-aminobutyric acid (H_3N+CH_2CH_2CH_2COO), is only present in the human brain at millimolar levels, it is possible to measure GABA concentration with MRS, usually by tailoring the MRS experiment specifically to isolate GABA signals from the spectrum. This review will summarize the MRS methods proposed for detecting GABA, and address their various applications to date.