Macromolecule-suppressed GABA-edited magnetic resonance spectroscopy at 3T

Edited magnetic resonance spectroscopy makes possible noninvasive studies of the role of the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA in the healthy brain and in disease processes. A major limitation of the methodology is coediting of macromolecular signals. Although it has previously been shown that macromolecular signal can be suppressed using a symmetrical editing scheme, this approach is rarely applied at field strength of 3T as insufficiently selective pulses result in loss of GABA signal (in addition to the intended suppression of macromolecular signal). In this article, the authors show that increasing the echo time to 80 ms lets more selective editing pulses be used, allowing for symmetric editing-based suppression of coedited macromolecular signal without loss of GABA signal. The method is applied to acquire macromolecule-suppressed GABA-edited spectra in 10 healthy participants.