This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in JAMA  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

An In Vivo Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy Study

Bruce M. Cohen, MD, PhD; Perry F. Renshaw, MD, PhD; Andrew L. Stoll, MD; Richard J. Wurtman, MD; Deborah Yurgelun-Todd, PhD; Suzann M. Babb

JAMA. 1995;274(11):902-907.

Abstract
Objective.
—To test the hypothesis that uptake of circulating choline into the brain decreases with age, because alterations in metabolism of choline may be a factor contributing to age-related degenerative changes in the brain.

Design.
—Cohort comparison in younger and older adults.

Participants.
—Subjects were chosen consecutively from lists of healthy volunteers screened by medical and psychiatric interviews and laboratory tests. Younger adults (n=12) were between the ages of 20 and 40 years (mean age, 32 years), and older adults (n=16) were between the ages of 60 and 85 years (mean age, 73 years).

Interventions.
—After fasting overnight, subjects received choline, as the bitartrate, to yield free choline equal to 50 mg/kg of body weight. Blood was drawn for determination of plasma choline concentration by high-performance liquid chromatography, and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (¹H-MRS) was performed to determine the relative concentration of cytosolic choline—containing compounds in the brain at baseline and after ingestion of choline.

Main Outcome Measures.
—Plasma choline and cytosolic choline—containing compounds in the brain, estimated as the ratio of the choline resonance to the creatine resonance on¹H-MRS scans of the basal ganglia, were compared following blinded analyses of data from subject cohorts studied at baseline and 3 hours after choline ingestion.

Results.
—Levels of plasma choline and cytosolic choline—containing compounds in brain were similar at baseline in younger and older subjects. Following ingestion of choline, plasma choline concentration increased by similar proportions (76% and 80%) in both younger and older subjects. Brain cytosolic choline— containing compounds increased substantially in younger subjects (mean increase, 60%; P<.001 vs baseline). Older subjects showed a much smaller increase in brain choline—containing compounds (mean, 16%; P<.001 vs the increase in younger subjects).

Conclusion.
—Uptake of circulating choline into the brain decreases with age. Given the key role of choline in neuronal structure and function, this change may be a contributing factor in onset in late life of neurodegenerative, particularly dementing, illnesses in which cholinergic neurons show particular susceptibility to loss.

(JAMA. 1995;274:902-907)

Author Affiliations
From the Brain Imaging Center, McLean Hospital, Belmont, Mass (Drs Cohen, Renshaw, Stoll, and Yurgelun-Todd and Ms Babb); Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass (Drs Cohen, Renshaw, Stoll, and Yurgelun-Todd); the Clinical Research Center (Drs Cohen, Renshaw, and Wurtman) and Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences (Dr Wurtman), Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge; and the Psychopharmacology Unit, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston (Dr Stoll).

Footnotes
Reprint requests to McLean Hospital, 115 Mill St, Belmont, MA 02178 (Dr Cohen).

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Clinical Application of Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy of the Liver in Patients Receiving Long-Term Parenteral Nutrition
Woodward et al.
JPEN J Parenter Enteral Nutr 2009;33:669-676.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Longitudinal changes during aging using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy.
Ross et al.
Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences 2006;61:291-298.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Lower Concentration of Hippocampal N-Acetylaspartate in Familial Bipolar I Disorder
Deicken et al.
Am. J. Psychiatry 2003;160:873-882.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy in Dementias
Hsu et al.
J Geriatr Psychiatry Neurol 2001;14:145-166.
ABSTRACT  

High Brain myo-Inositol Levels in the Predementia Phase of Alzheimer’s Disease in Adults With Down’s Syndrome: A 1H MRS Study
Huang et al.
Am. J. Psychiatry 1999;156:1879-1886.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Brain Biochemistry Using Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy: Relevance to Psychiatric Illness in the Elderly
Moore et al.
J Geriatr Psychiatry Neurol 1999;12:107-117.
ABSTRACT  

Neuropharmacology and Receptor Studies in the Elderly
Meltzer
J Geriatr Psychiatry Neurol 1999;12:137-149.
ABSTRACT  

Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy in Affective Disorders
Kato et al.
J. Neuropsychiatry Clin. Neurosi. 1998;10:133-147.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Choline Uptake Decreases with Age
JWatch Psychiatry 1995;1995:10-10.
FULL TEXT