• Harmen Reyngoudt, Tom Claeys, Leslie Vlerick, Stijn Verleden, Marjan Acou, Karel Deblaere, Yves De Deene, Kurt Audenaert, Ingeborg Goethals, and Eric Achten.
• Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Ghent University, and Department of Psychiatry, Ghent University Hospital, Ghent, Belgium. harmen.reyngoudt@ugent.be
• Eur J Radiol. 2012 Mar 1; 81 (3): e223-31.

ObjectiveTo study age-related metabolic changes in N-acetylaspartate (NAA), total creatine (tCr), choline (Cho) and myo-inositol (Ins).Materials And MethodsProton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) was performed in the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and the left hippocampus (HC) of 90 healthy subjects (42 women and 48 men aged 18-76 years, mean±SD, 48.4±16.8 years). Both metabolite ratios and absolute metabolite concentrations were evaluated. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) and linear regression were used for statistical analysis.ResultsMetabolite ratios Ins/tCr and Ins/H2O were found significantly increased with age in the PCC (P<0.05 and P≤0.001, respectively), and in the HC (P<0.01 for both). An increased tCr/H2O was only observed in the PCC (P<0.01). Following absolute quantification based on the internal water signal, significantly increased concentrations of Ins and tCr in the PCC confirmed the relative findings (P<0.01 for both).ConclusionAge-related increases of tCr and Ins are found in the PCC, whereas this holds only true for Ins in the HC, indicating possible gliosis in the ageing brain. No age-dependent NAA decreases were observed in the PCC nor the HC. The 1H-MRS results in these specific brain regions can be important to differentiate normal ageing from age-related pathologies such as mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's disease.Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

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