Abstract
To determine the effects of age and sex on cerebral glutamate and glutamine concentrations in a large sample of healthy humans using a dedicated measuring and evaluation procedure. Exploratory examinations of other brain metabolites were also conducted. In 118 healthy subjects aged 19 to 55 years (59 female) absolute concentrations of glutamate, glutamine, N-acetylaspartate (NAA), total creatine, and total choline (tCho) in voxels comprising the left hippocampus (HC) and the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) were investigated using point-resolved spectroscopy with an echo time of 80 ms at 3 Tesla in combination with a reliable quantification procedure. Special care was taken to correct for multiple comparisons. An age-related decline of the concentrations of glutamate in both regions studied was observed whereas glutamine levels in ACC increased with age. Statistically significant sex-related differences were detected for glutamate in the HC and for tCho in the ACC. NAA decreased with age in both regions, the significance not surviving Bonferroni correction. The results demonstrate effects of age and gender on glutamate, glutamine, choline containing compounds, and NAA in healthy human brain. They add to the growing evidence for gender-specific differences in cerebral neurotransmission, metabolism, and structure across the lifespan.
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