Effects of chronic lead exposure on ¹ H MRS of hippocampus and frontal lobes in children

Abstract

The authors performed IQ testing and magnetic resonance spectroscopy on six lead-exposed and six control children. Levels of N-acetyl aspartate (neuronal density and mitochondrial metabolism), creatine + phosphocreatine (phosphate metabolism), and choline (membrane turnover) were decreased in four brain regions (left and right frontal, left and right hippocampus) in lead-exposed children vs controls. The reductions were right frontal > left frontal > hippocampus but were the same bilaterally in the hippocampus.

Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopic Evidence of Glial Effects of Cumulative Lead Exposure in the Adult Human Hippocampus

“…The few previous studies of lead exposure and MRS have focused on children. A study in China of 6 children with blood lead > 27 µg/dL and 6 children with blood lead < 10 µg/dL found lower NAA/Cr ratios in both the frontal cortex and hippocampus associated with the higher lead exposure (Meng et al 2005). mI levels were not determined.…”

“…The use of MRS in neurologic disease has grown rapidly over the past decade, but the use of MRS in the setting of environmental insult to the brain is quite new. Earlier MRS studies of leadexposed individuals do suggest effects on brain metabolites, but these studies focused on small numbers of very highly exposed children (Meng et al 2005;Trope et al 1998Trope et al , 2001. Examination of the effects of exposure levels to which a much larger population would be exposed have not been done.…”

Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopic Evidence of Glial Effects of Cumulative Lead Exposure in the Adult Human Hippocampus

“…The few previous studies of lead exposure and MRS have focused on children. A study in China of 6 children with blood lead > 27 μg/dL and 6 children with blood lead < 10 μg/dL found lower NAA/Cr ratios in both the frontal cortex and hippocampus associated with the higher lead exposure (Meng et al 2005). mI levels were not determined.…”

“…The use of MRS in neurologic disease has grown rapidly over the past decade, but the use of MRS in the setting of environmental insult to the brain is quite new. Earlier MRS studies of lead-exposed individuals do suggest effects on brain metabolites, but these studies focused on small numbers of very highly exposed children (Meng et al 2005; Trope et al 1998, 2001). Examination of the effects of exposure levels to which a much larger population would be exposed have not been done.…”

Neuroimaging in Manganese-Induced Parkinsonism

“…Although MRS permits noninvasive, in vivo measurement of brain metabolites, only a few MRS investigations have been performed to date in efforts to assess the neurological effects of heavy metals in the environmental or occupational health. Recently, a few reports have analyzed the impact of lead exposure on brain metabolism in vivo in adults and children (Meng et al, 2005;Trope et al, 2001;Weisskopf, 2007;Weisskopf et al, 2007). However, little is known about the effects of chronic Mn exposure on brain metabolites in vivo.…”