Su Xu1, 2,
Elizabeth M. Powell3, Andrew D. Marshall1, 2,
Rolicia F. Martin3, Rao P. Gullapalli1, 2
1Department
of Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, University of Maryland School
of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States; 2Core for Translational
Research in Imaging @ Maryland, Baltimore, MD, United States; 3Department
of Anatomy & Neurobiolog, University of Maryland School of Medicine,
Baltimore, MD, United States
The B6-Gad1tm1.1Bgc mouse expresses decreased levels of glutamic acid decarboxylase (Gad67), the main enzyme that converts glutamate to GABA and presumably are found in epilepsy, schizophrenia and bipolar disorders. Although effective therapies seek to increase GABA levels in vivo, GABA levels have never been established in vivo, nor has the potential compensatory regulation of excitatory neurotransmitters, such as glutamate in this animal model. In the present study, we demonstrate the feasibility of using in vivo high resolution localized 1H MRS in studies of B6-Gad1tm1.1Bgc mouse brain at 7 Tesla to show regional differences in neurotransmitter levels.