Motivation: Metabolite relaxation measurements vary with age, in patterns that are distinct from changes in water relaxation, presumably reporting on specific cellular microenvironments. Goal(s): To investigate metabolite T1 and T2 relaxation times at 3 T across the lifespan. Approach: T1 and T2 relaxation times of metabolites were measured from an aging cohort consisting of 101 participants. Statistical analyses were conducted to identify correlations between T1/T2 and age, and between T1 and T2 for each metabolite of interest and tissue water. Results: T1 and T2 were correlated in the aging cohort for tNAA2.0, tCr3.0 and Glx in both CSO and PCC. Impact: Understanding the life-course of metabolite relaxation times is a critical pre-requisite to studies of metabolite concentration across the lifespan. We report correlations of T1 and T2 of metabolites with age, and between T1 and T2 in a large aging cohort.
Murali-Manohar et al. (Tue,) studied this question.
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