Motor cortex glutathione deficit in ALS measured in vivo with the J-editing technique.
This study compared in vivo levels of the antioxidant glutathione (GSH) in the motor cortex of 11 ALS patients with those in 11 age-matched healthy volunteers (HV). Using the standard J-edited spin-echo difference MRS technique, GSH spectra were recorded on a 3.0 T GE MR system from a single precentral gyrus voxel. GSH levels expressed as ratios to the unsuppressed voxel tissue water (W) were 31% lower in ALS patients than in HV (p=.005), and 36% lower in ALS than in HV (p=.02) when expressed as ratios to the total creatine peak (tCr), supporting a role for oxidative stress in ALS. Levels of the putative neuronal marker N-acetylaspartate (NAA) relative to W did not differ between ALS and HV (p=.26), but were lower by 9% in ALS than in HV (p=.013) when expressed as ratios relative to tCr. This discrepancy is attributed to small but opposite changes in NAA and tCr in ALS that, as a ratio, resulted in a statistically significant group difference, further suggesting caution in using tCr as an internal reference under pathological conditions.
Department of Radiology, Weill Cornell Medical College, 516 East 72nd Street, New York, NY 10021, United States.
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N
Weiduschat
Department of Radiology, Weill Cornell Medical College, 516 East 72nd Street, New York, NY 10021, United States.
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X
Mao
Department of Neurology, Columbia University, 710 West 168th Street, New York, NY 10032, United States.
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J
Hupf
Department of Neurology, Columbia University, 710 West 168th Street, New York, NY 10032, United States.
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N
Armstrong
Department of Radiology, Weill Cornell Medical College, 516 East 72nd Street, New York, NY 10021, United States.
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G
Kang
Department of Neurology, Hospital of Special Surgery, 525 East 71st Street, New York, NY 10021, United States.
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DJ
Lange
Department of Neurology, Columbia University, 710 West 168th Street, New York, NY 10032, United States.
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H
Mitsumoto
Department of Radiology, Weill Cornell Medical College, 516 East 72nd Street, New York, NY 10021, United States. Electronic address: dcs7001@med.cornell.edu.
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Shungu
D000368:Aged; D000690:Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / Q000378:metabolism*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D005978:Glutathione / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000378:metabolism*
D005978:Glutathione
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; Biomarker; Glutathione; Magnetic resonance spectroscopy; Neurodegeneration; Oxidative stress