Toward proton MR spectroscopic imaging of stimulated brain function

With the objective of complementing local cerebral metabolic studies of PET, and as a prelude to spectroscopic imaging, the authors have performed the first localized proton spectroscopic study of the stimulated human auditory cortex. Water suppressed localized spectroscopy (voxel size 3cm x 3cm x 3cm enclosing the auditory cortex, Te = 272ms, Tr = 3s) was performed on a 1.5T MRI/MRS system and spectra were acquired during stimulation with a 1kHz tone presented at 2Hz. Measurements were conducted for 30-40 min with a temporal resolution of 3.2 min (64 averages per time block). Results included in this paper from six subjects show a lactate peak which increases during stimulation compared to baseline values. These results suggest an increase in anaerobic glycolysis during stimulation and provide unique and valuable information that should complement glucose metabolism and flood flow studies of PET