NAA and NAAG variation in neuronal activation during visual stimulation: preliminary results from functional MRS

• Grant number: 12/12840-0
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants - Publications - Scientific article
• Start date: August 01, 2012
• End date: January 31, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Interdisciplinary Subjects
• Principal Investigator: Gabriela Castellano
• Grantee: Gabriela Castellano
• Host Institution: Instituto de Física Gleb Wataghin (IFGW). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 05/56578-4 - Multimodal neuroimaging center for studies in epilepsy, AP.CINAPCE.TEM

Abstract

N-Acetyl-L-aspartate (NAA) and its product N-acetylaspartylglutamate (NAAG) are among the most important brain metabolites. NAA is a marker of neurons integrity and viability, while NAAG modulates glutamate release and may have a role in neuroprotection and synaptic plasticity. Investigating, on quantitative basis, the role of these metabolites in brain metabolism in vivo by MRS is a major challenge since the main signals of NAA and NAAG largely overlap each other. In this paper, we evaluate NAA and NAAG changes during a visual stimulation experiment by using functional MRS. The main outcomes are that NAA concentration decreased around 20% with the stimulus, while the concentration of NAAG concomitantly increased around 200%. We show that these results are consistent with the outcomes of similar experiments reported in the literature. (AU)