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Examining alterations in GABA concentrations in the basal ganglia of patients with Parkinson’s disease using MEGA-PRESS MRS

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Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this study was to compare the gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA) levels in the left basal ganglia (BG) of patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) to those of healthy control (HC) volunteers using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H MRS).

Materials and methods

The GABA+ signal—the composite signal from GABA, macromolecules (MMs), and homocarnosine—was detected. GABA+ levels were examined in 21 PD patients and 15 age- and sex-matched HCs. 3T-1H-MRS using the Mescher–Garwood point-resolved spectroscopy (MEGA-PRESS) sequence was performed in order to detect GABA+ levels in the left BG, and the spectra were processed using the Gannet software. Differences in GABA+ levels between the two groups were analyzed using independent t-test analysis.

Results

The GABA+ levels were significantly lower (P < 0.001) in the left BG of the patients with PD (1.31 ± 0.21 i.u.) than in the left BG of the HCs (1.62 ± 0.26 i.u.).

Conclusion

The lower GABA+ levels in the left BG of the PD patients suggest that GABA plays an important role in the pathogenesis of PD. The reduced GABA+ levels in the PD patients may be associated with GABAergic dysfunction.

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Acknowledgement

The authors thank those who participated in the technical preparation of this study, and they are especially grateful to the patients and healthy controls who volunteered for this study.

Funding

No specific funding was disclosed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Imaging and Nuclear Medicine, Shandong Medical Imaging Research Institute, Shandong University, No. 324, Jingwu Road, Jinan, 250021, People’s Republic of China

    Elsadig E. A. Elmaki, Tao Gong & Guangbin Wang

  2. Imaging and Nuclear Medicine, Shandong Provincial Qianfoshan Hospital, Jinan, 250021, People’s Republic of China

    D. Menene Nkonika

Authors
  1. Elsadig E. A. Elmaki
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  2. Tao Gong
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  3. D. Menene Nkonika
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  4. Guangbin Wang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Guangbin Wang.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all of the participants in this study.

Ethical statement

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Elmaki, E.E.A., Gong, T., Nkonika, D.M. et al. Examining alterations in GABA concentrations in the basal ganglia of patients with Parkinson’s disease using MEGA-PRESS MRS. Jpn J Radiol 36, 194–199 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11604-017-0714-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11604-017-0714-z

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