Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS) Assessment of Vastus Lateralis Muscle Among Lightly Active Subjects: A Pilot Study

Abstract

Introduction: Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) is an advanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique that permits the molecular characterization by detecting signals of the water, lipids, and metabolites such as lactate, N-acetyl aspartate (NAA), glutamine, creatinine (Cr), and choline (Cho) in the region of interest. 1H-MRS technique has widely explored the area in the brain, breast, prostate, and optical radiation. However, there are limited literature on MR spectroscopy techniques in musculoskeletal (MSK). The primary purpose of this pilot study is to evaluate lower limb muscles strength pre-and post-resistance straining in lightly active subjects using single-voxel 1H-MRS with different voxel sizes. Methods: The study examined the vastus lateralis muscle of nine male adults 18-26 years of age, body mass index (BMI) = 21.9-38.0 kg/m2. Each subject underwent 1.5 T single voxel, short echo time, point resolved proton MRS at pre- and post- resistance training. Results: The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was performed and was found no significant difference between 20 mm2 and 30mm2 voxel size for NAA, Cr, and Cho for pre- and post-resistance training. Conclusion: The finding of this study shows no improvement of the metabolite’s quantification from two different sizes of a voxel. However, it may be helpful to explore a different aspect of technique in 1H-MRS imaging to investigate the muscle size, volume, and musculoskeletal properties with significant conditions such as musculoskeletal diseases, muscle injuries as well as in sports sciences.