title: Decrease of NAA with aging outside the seizure focus in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy--a proton-MRS study at 3 Tesla.
abstract: There is evidence that chronic pharmacoresistant temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is a progressive disorder accompanied by mental deterioration. We investigated effects of aging on cerebral N-acetyl-aspartate (NAA) concentrations in the temporal lobe of 12 patients with pharmacoresistant mesial TLE (mTLE) and 22 healthy controls by means of proton-magnetic resonance spectroscopy ((1)H-MRS) at 3 T. Furthermore, we calculated correlations between NAA concentrations and measures of verbal and figural memory in patients. In mTLE patients but not in healthy controls the concentration of NAA in the lateral temporal lobe was negatively correlated with age. In patients with mTLE NAA in left lateral temporal voxels correlated with verbal memory. NAA in medial temporal voxels did not correlate with age or neuropsychological measures. Significant decrease of NAA with age in the lateral temporal lobe of patients with mTLE provides evidence for progressive neuronal dysfunction with aging. NAA is a marker of neuronal integrity since it correlates with verbal memory.
authors.affiliation: Universitätsklinik für Neurologie, Abteilung für Klinische Epilepsieforschung, Medical University of Vienna, Währinger Gürtel 18-20, A 1090 Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Franz
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Riederer
authors.forename: Michal
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bittsanský
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lehner-Baumgartner
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Baumgartner
authors.forename: Vladimír
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Mlynárik
authors.forename: Stephan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gruber
authors.forename: Ewald
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Moser
authors.forename: Marihan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kaya
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Serles
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000375:Aging / Q000378:metabolism*; D001224:Aspartic Acid / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000378:metabolism; D002794:Choline / Q000378:metabolism; D003401:Creatine / Q000378:metabolism; D004351:Drug Resistance; D004833:Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011522:Protons; D012640:Seizures / Q000503:physiopathology; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000503:physiopathology; D014706:Verbal Learning / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D011522:Protons; D001224:Aspartic Acid; C000179:N-acetylaspartate; D003401:Creatine; D002794:Choline