Xianfeng Shi1,2, Young-Hoon Sung1,3,
Douglas G. Kondo1,3, Paul Carlson1,3, Tracy L. Hellem1,
Kristen K. Delmastro1, SeongEun Kim2, Chun Zuo4,5,
Eunkee Jeong2, Perry F. Renshaw1,3
1The Brain Institute,
University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States; 2Department
of Radiology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States; 3Department
of Psychiatry, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States; 4Brain
Imaging Center, Harvard Med School, Belmont, MA, United States; 5Department
of Psychiatry, Harvard Med School, Belmont, MA, United States
Synthesis of high energy phosphates such as phosphocreatine (PCr) and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) plays an important role in supporting neuronal activity. Alternations in PCr and ATP concentrations have been observed in the brain of individuals with bipolar disorder (BD), which is associated with mitochondrial dysfunction. Creatine kinase (CK) is an enzyme that catalyzes the conversion between PCr and ATP. Change in the CK reaction rate constant (kf)may be important in better understanding the pathophysiology of BD. By employing a phosphorus magnetization transfer, image selected in-vivo spectroscopy technique, kf in human brain for healthy volunteers and bipolar patients are presented.