Publication Type | Academic Article |
Authors | Weiduschat N, Mao X, Hupf J, Armstrong N, Kang G, Lange D, Mitsumoto H, Shungu D |
Journal | Neurosci Lett |
Volume | 570 |
Pagination | 102-7 |
Date Published | 04/24/2014 |
ISSN | 1872-7972 |
Keywords | Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Glutathione, Motor Cortex |
Abstract | 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. |
DOI | 10.1016/j.neulet.2014.04.020 |
PubMed ID | 24769125 |