Age related changes in metabolite concentrations in the normal spinal cord

PLoS One. 2014 Oct 13;9(10):e105774. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0105774. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) studies have previously described metabolite changes associated with aging of the healthy brain and provided insights into normal brain aging that can assist us in differentiating age-related changes from those associated with neurological disease. The present study investigates whether age-related changes in metabolite concentrations occur in the healthy cervical spinal cord. 25 healthy volunteers, aged 23-65 years, underwent conventional imaging and single-voxel MRS of the upper cervical cord using an optimised point resolved spectroscopy sequence on a 3T Achieva system. Metabolite concentrations normalised to unsuppressed water were quantified using LCModel and associations between age and spinal cord metabolite concentrations were examined using multiple regressions. A linear decline in total N-Acetyl-aspartate concentration (0.049 mmol/L lower per additional year of age, p = 0.010) and Glutamate-Glutamine concentration (0.054 mmol/L lower per additional year of age, p = 0.002) was seen within our sample age range, starting in the early twenties. The findings suggest that neuroaxonal loss and/or metabolic neuronal dysfunction, and decline in glutamate-glutamine neurotransmitter pool progress with aging.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Age Factors
  • Aged
  • Aging / metabolism*
  • Aspartic Acid / metabolism*
  • Choline / metabolism
  • Creatine / metabolism
  • Female
  • Glutamic Acid / metabolism*
  • Glutamine / metabolism*
  • Healthy Volunteers
  • Humans
  • Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Reference Values
  • Spinal Cord / metabolism*
  • Young Adult

Substances

  • Glutamine
  • Aspartic Acid
  • Glutamic Acid
  • Creatine
  • Choline

Grants and funding

This research was supported by the UK MS Society (Award Ref No: 984). http://www.mssociety.org.uk/. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.