In vivo proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy of alcohol in rhesus monkey brain

Spectroscopic imaging of the uptake kinetics of human brain ethanol

“…For example, Moxon et al (6) reported an ethanol visibility of 23% in the dog brain. Similar visibilities have been reported using STEAM methods in human brain 21-26% (4,5,7), and in rhesus monkey 23% (8). Other studies using spin echo methods and refocusing pulses which reduce J-modulation have yielded higher values.…”

“…These values are significantly higher than the 7 mM value used by Kaufman, Chiu, and Mendelson (4,5,7,8). If a 10.2 mM reference is used in place of 7 mM, the visibilities rise to 31-38%.…”

“…The lowest fractional ethanol ''visibilities'' in humans and primates, 21-26%, have been reported using stimulated echo methods and an NAA concentration of 7 mM (4,5,7,8 (24), and 9.7, 10.7 mM/liter tissue (22) for gray and white matter, respectively. These values are significantly higher than the 7 mM value used by Kaufman, Chiu, and Mendelson (4,5,7,8).…”

“…Measurements of the in vivo T 2 of brain alcohol have also shown significant variation, ranging from 206-335 msec (10,13,14). Finally, the value used for the internal reference, NAA, has varied from 7-10 mM (4)(5)(6)(7)(8)10). Therefore, the goal of this study was: 1) to evaluate the ratio of NMR visible brain ethanol to venous blood ethanol, and 2) to monitor the uptake kinetics of ethanol in human brain employing a spectroscopic imaging sequence which minimizes T 1 , T 2 , and J-modulation differences in comparison to an internal reference (NAA).…”

“…As such, the nature of ethanol's interaction with cerebral membrane lipids, and their effect on the NMR relaxation properties of ethanol, are of considerable interest (2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14). In these studies (4,5,7,8,10), the ''visibility'' of brain alcohol was calculated from the ratio of brain and venous blood ethanol at the peak venous blood level. Ethanol is known to rapidly cross biological membranes and at equilibrium the concentration of ethanol in all tissues is proportional to their water content (1).…”