title: Reduced N-acetylaspartate in the brain observed on in vivo proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy in patients with mental retardation.
abstract: Volume-selective proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) of the brain was performed with a 1.5T magnet in 28 patients with unclassified mental retardation (MR) and in 25 age-matched healthy children. Peaks of N-acetylaspartate (NAA), choline (Cho), and creatine (Cr), but not of lactate, were observed in both groups on 1H-MRS. In all our subjects of this age range, 1H-MRS revealed an increase with advancing age in the ratio of NAA/Cho (P = .0031), but no developmental change in the NAA/Cr and Cho/Cr ratios. The NAA/Cho ratio was lower in patients with MR than in controls (P = .0016). The NAA/Cr ratio tended to be lower in the MR group, and the Cho/Cr ratio did not differ between patients with MR and controls. These results suggest that in patients with MR, NAA decreases and a disorder and/or dysfunction of neurons in the brain exists.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Tokushima School of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hashimoto
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tayama
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Miyazaki
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yoneda
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yoshimoto
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Harada
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Miyoshi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tanouchi
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kuroda
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001224:Aspartic Acid / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000032:analysis; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism*; D001923:Brain Chemistry; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002794:Choline / Q000378:metabolism; D003401:Creatine / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000523:psychology; D007360:Intelligence; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D008297:Male
chemical_list: D001224:Aspartic Acid; C000179:N-acetylaspartate; D003401:Creatine; D002794:Choline