Two-voxel localization sequence for in vivo two-dimensional homonuclear correlation spectroscopy

The combination of localized 2D H-1 MR correlation spectroscopy and Hadamar d encoding allows the simultaneous acquisition of multiple volumes of inter est without an increase in the experimental duration, compared to single-vo xel acquisition. In the present study, 2D correlation spectra were acquired simultaneously within 20 to 40 min in two voxels located in each hemispher e of the rat brain. An intervoxel distance of 20% of the voxel size was suf ficient to limit spatial contamination. The following cerebral metabolites gave detectable crosspeaks: N-acetylaspartate, the glutamate/glutamine pool , aspartate, phosphoethanolamine, glucose, glutathione, taurine, myo-inosit ols, lactate, threonine, gamma -aminobutyric acid, and alanine. Most of the metabolites were measured without contamination of other resonances. (C) 2 001 Academic Press.