Iris Y. Zhou1, 2, Abby Y. Ding1, 2, Frank Y. Lee1, 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
In this study, in vivo 1H MRS was employed to investigate the metabolic changes induced by sleep deprivation (SD) in hippocampus and thalamus of a rat model. Reduced NAA:Cr was found in hippocampus, indicating neuronal loss and cellular dysfunction. The reduction of glutamate observed in hippocampus can reflect reduced cellular excitability. In thalamus, lactate was found to decrease in thalamus after SD, as a result of glucose metabolism decrease. Our finding of Glu:Cr increase in thalamus possibly arises from increased glutamine synthetase. The results of this study provide neurochemical evidence of the behavioral deficits associated with sleep deprivation.