PRELIMINARY-RESULTS OF PROTON MAGNETIC-RESONANCE SPECTROSCOPY IN MOTOR-NEURON DISEASE (AMYTROPHIC LATERAL SCLEROSIS)

Possible changes in brain metabolites in motor neurone disease/amytrop hic lateral sclerosis (MND/ALS) were investigated using H-1 magnetic r esonance spectroscopy (MRS). A series of normal, healthy volunteer con trols and MND patients have been studied using a spin echo (SE) 135 ms sequence, acquiring spectra from the region of the motor cortex. A fu rther limited series of studies have been made for similar groups of v olunteers and MND patients using a STEAM 20 ms sequence (stimulated ec ho). Analysis of the SE 135 ms spectra indicates there are statistical ly significant differences in the ratios of N-acetyl-aspartate to crea tine and N-acetyl-aspartate to choline between controls and MND patien ts. Furthermore, metabolites identified using the STEAM 20 ms may be o f great importance in the investigations of free radical mediated mech anisms, which have been postulated as being important contributors to the disease process. Preliminary results indicate that H-1 MRS may pro vide important data to help understand the disease processes in MND an d it could form a useful method for monitoring the effects of future t rial treatment regimens.