Simultaneous in vivo detection of spectrally resolved glutamate, glutamine, and glutathione at 3 T with NAA-aspartyl editing and echo-time optimization.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

To achieve spectrally resolved in vivo detection of glutamate, glutamine, and glutathione at 3 T.

Methods

Difference editing of N-acetylaspartate CH₂ protons (NAA-CH₂) combined with a new echo-time (TE) optimization approach is introduced. Difference editing was used to detect NAA-CH₂ independently of NAA-CH₃, thereby eliminating systematic errors arising from constrained fitting of the entire NAA molecule. Numerical optimization of TE and TE₁ minimized interference from highly dominant glutamate in glutamine detection in the ON/OFF sum spectrum. In vivo data were acquired from 6 healthy participants, including 2 who underwent oral administration of [U-¹³C]glucose.

Results

The NAA-aspartyl-edite

SUBMITTER: An L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12681290 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature