Reversal of myo-inositol metabolic level in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex of rats exposed to forced swimming test following desipramine treatment: an in vivo localized 1H-MRS study at 4.7 T

Kim, Sang-Young; Choi, Chi-Bong; Lee, Hyun-Sung; Lee, Sung-Ho; Woo, Dong-Cheol; Kim, Hwi-Yool; Hong, Kwan-Soo; Lee, Chul-Hyun; Choe, Bo-Young

doi:10.1016/j.mri.2010.06.019

« Previous Next »Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Volume 28, Issue 10 , Pages 1461-1467, December 2010

Reversal of myo-inositol metabolic level in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex of rats exposed to forced swimming test following desipramine treatment: an in vivo localized ¹H-MRS study at 4.7 T

Sang-Young Kim
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 137-040, South Korea
- Research Institute of Biomedical Engineering, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 137-040, South Korea
Chi-Bong Choi
- Department of Radiology, Kyunghee University Medical Center, Hoekidong, Dongdaemungu, Seoul 130-702, South Korea
Hyun-Sung Lee
- MRI Team, Korea Basic Science Institute, 804-1 Yangcheong-Ri, Ochang-Myun, Choongbuk, South Korea
Sung-Ho Lee
- Department of Veterinary Surgery, College of Veterinary Medicine, Konkuk University, Seoul 143-701, South Korea
Dong-Cheol Woo
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 137-040, South Korea
- Research Institute of Biomedical Engineering, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 137-040, South Korea
Hwi-Yool Kim
- Department of Veterinary Surgery, College of Veterinary Medicine, Konkuk University, Seoul 143-701, South Korea
Kwan-Soo Hong
- MRI Team, Korea Basic Science Institute, 804-1 Yangcheong-Ri, Ochang-Myun, Choongbuk, South Korea
Chul-Hyun Lee
- MRI Team, Korea Basic Science Institute, 804-1 Yangcheong-Ri, Ochang-Myun, Choongbuk, South Korea
Bo-Young Choe
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 137-040, South Korea
- Research Institute of Biomedical Engineering, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 137-040, South Korea
- Corresponding author. Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 137-040, South Korea. Tel.: +82 2 2258 7233; fax: +82 2 2258 7760.

Received 19 October 2009; received in revised form 11 May 2010; accepted 25 June 2010. published online 03 September 2010.

Abstract

The forced swimming test (FST) is a useful paradigm that is relatively quick and simple to perform and has been utilized to predict antidepressant activity based on learned helplessness as a model of depression. To date, few studies have used proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (¹H-MRS) to assess antidepressant effects in rats. The purpose of this study was to assess desipramine (DMI) effects on the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) of the rats, which were randomly assigned to three groups (control, n=10; FST+saline, n=10; FST+DMI, n=10), using single-voxel localization technique. All ¹H-MRS experiments were performed on a Bruker 4.7-T scanner with 400 mm bore magnet, allowing for acquisition of in vivo ¹H point-resolved spectroscopy spectra (TR/TE=3000/30 ms, number of data points=2048, NEX=512, voxel volume=27 μl, scan time=25 min). Proton metabolites were quantified automatically using LCModel software and were expressed as ratios to total creatine (Cr+PCr). Major target metabolites such as N-acetyl aspartate (NAA)+N-acetylaspartylglutamate (NAAG), glutamate+glutamine (Glu+Gln), glycerophosphorylcholine+phosphorylcholine (GPC+PCho), myo-inositol (mIns) and taurine (Tau) were successfully quantified with Cramer–Rao lower boundary ≤10%. There were significantly higher mIns/(Cr+PCr) and mIns/(NAA+NAAG) ratios in the FST+saline group compared to the control group. In the FST+DMI group, both mIns/(Cr+PCr) and mIns/(NAA+NAAG) ratios were significantly decreased to the level similar to those in the control group. No other metabolite ratios were significantly different among the three groups. Our findings suggest a possible role of altered mIns level within the left DLPFC of the rat model for depression.

Keywords: Forced swimming test (FST), Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (¹H-MRS), Left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), Desipramine (DMI), Myo-inositol (mIns)