Objective: To study the feasibility of non-invasive magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) in measuring glutamine (GLN) level in Zelanian rabbits' skeletal muscle.
Methods: Non-invasive MRS was used to get the data of peak height ratio of GLN + glutamic acid (GLx) at 3.8 ppm and creatine (Cr) at 3.0 ppm, peak area ratio of GLx at 3.8 ppm and Cr at 3.0 ppm. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used to examine the actual GLx levels of muscle from 22 Zelanian rabbits. The feasibility of MRS was then evaluated by HPLC method.
Results: The ratio of peak height and peak area of GLx and Cr by means of MRS were 0.162 +/- 0.045 and 0.092 +/- 0.065, respectively. The average concentration of GLx in skeletal muscle by means of HPLC was (4.19 +/- 2.50) micromol/g. The ratio of GLx and plasma Cr level by means of HPLC was 4.576 -/+ 0.599. The ratio of peak height and peak area of GLx and Cr by means of MRS were correlated significantly with the ratio of concentration of GLx in skeletal muscle and plasma Cr by means of HPLC (r = 0.7, P = 0.001; r = 0.6, P = 0.001).
Conclusion: Non-invasive MRS is feasible to measure GLN level in skeletal muscle of rabbit.