Id. Wilkinson et al., CEREBRAL VOLUMES AND SPECTROSCOPIC PROTON METABOLITES ON MR - IS SEX IMPORTANT, Magnetic resonance imaging, 15(2), 1997, pp. 243-248
One of the factors that may influence the selection of appropriate con
trols for MR studies of the brain is gender, This study compared calcu
lated intracranial volumes and proton spectroscopic metabolite ratios
obtained from male and female volunteers, Thirty-two males (mean age =
36; range = 30-53 yr) and 19 females (mean age = 39; range = 26-53 yr
) underwent investigation at 1.5T., Brain, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF),
and intracranial (ICV = brain + CSF) volumes were measured by the CLAS
S technique on data acquired using an axial dual spin-echo imaging seq
uence (TE = 20/90 ms, TR = 3500 ms), Proton spectra (TE = 135 ms, TR =
1600 ms) were acquired from an 8 mi cubic region placed in parieto-oc
cipital white matter, The mean male and female brain, CSP and ICV were
significantly different (p < .005), However, the mean CSF/ICV ratios
of the two groups were not significantly different, The N-acetyl/choli
ne and choline/creatine metabolite ratios of the two groups were signi
ficantly different (p < .05),When comparing proton metabolite ratios a
nd absolute brain volumes between groups, gender is an important facto
r, CSF/ICV ratios do not appear to depend on gender, (C) 1997 Elsevier
Science Inc.