Mary Charlotte Stephenson1, Antonio Napolitano2, Maryam Abaei2, Mirjam I. Schubert2, Peter Gordon Morris1, Dorothee P. Auer2
1SPMMRC, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK; 2Academic Radiology, Queens Medical Centre, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
Metabolic profiles in the posterior cingulate have been shown to be altered due to healthy aging, development, and disease. The purpose of the experiment was to observe changes in metabolic profiles, using a sequence optimized for observation of coupled metabolites at ultra-high field, in order to characterize changes in healthy aging. Decreases in N-acetyl aspartate and glutamate indicate brain atropy with aging, whereas decreases in Glu/Cr with constant NAA/Cr indicate perturbed metabolism with age. Decreases in Taurine with increases in Guanidinoacetate indicate reduced ability of the aged brain to deal with oxidative stress.