Abstract #1311
Bilateral sensorimotor GABA correlation is not driven by voxel segmentation
Nicolaas AJ Puts 1,2 , Stephanie Heba 3 , Ashley D. Harris 1,2 , David J. McGonigle 4,5 , C. John Evans 5 , Hubert Dinse 6 , Martin Tegenthoff 3 , Tobias Schmidt-Wilcke 3 , and Richard A. Edden 1,2
1
Russell H. Morgan Dept. of Radiology and
Radiological Science, Johns Hopkins University,
Baltimore, Maryland, United States,
2
F.M.
Kirby Center for Functional Brain Imaging, Kennedy
Krieger Institute, Baltimore, Maryland, United States,
3
Dept.
of Neurology, BG-klinikum Bergmannsheil, Ruhr -
University, Bochum, Germany,
4
School
of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, Wales,
United Kingdom,
5
CUBRIC/School
of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, Wales,
United Kingdom,
6
Neural
Plasticity lab, Institute for Neuroinformatics, Ruhr -
University Bochum, Bochum, Germany
Recent GABA MRS studies have shown links between brain
GABA and behavior, brain activity, and disease. However,
no studies to date have shown correlations in GABA
concentration between regions, suggesting regional and
functionally specificity. In this study, we measure GABA
levels in left and right sensorimotor (SM1) cortex, two
homologous regions known to be functionally connected.
In two separate cohorts and sites, we found that GABA
levels correlate significantly between left and right
SM1. Although voxel tissue composition is highly
correlated between sides, this does not explain
significant variance in the GABA concentration or its
bilateral correlation. This strongly supports the idea
that individual differences in GABA reflect differences
in tissue microstructure (e.g. density of GABAergic
neurons) rather than bulk tissue properties. This work
is important for understanding brain connectivity as
well as brain plasticity.
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