Kevin C. Chan1,2, Ed X. Wu1,2
1Laboratory of Biomedical Imaging and
Signal Processing, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China; 2Department
of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong
Kong SAR, China
This
study employed in vivo 1H MRS to understand the metabolic alterations in
cortical and subcortical structures during the recovery period upon mild and
severe hypoxic-ischemic (HI) injuries to the neonatal rat brains. Relative to
the Cr peak, results showed a further increase in Cho, Glu and Lac in the
left cortex of severe HI group than mild HI group at 3 days after HI injury
at postnatal day 7. These values then decreased slightly at 7 days after
surgery in both HI groups. Tau also increased on both sides of the cortex at
Day 3 and then drop at Day 7 for both HI groups. In the left thalamus of the
severe HI group, NAA appeared to decrease transiently at Day 3 and normalize at
Day 7, whereas Cho, Glu, Lac and Tau levels apparently peaked at Day 3. The
results of this study may help to investigate potential therapies and the
recovery mechanisms upon different severity of neonatal HI insults.