Object: To determine whether glycine can be measured at 7 T in human brain with (1)H magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS).
Materials and methods: The glycine singlet is overlapped by the larger signal of myo-inositol. Density matrix simulations were performed to determine the TE at which the myo-inositol signal was reduced the most, following a single spin-echo excitation. (1)H MRS was performed on an actively shielded 7 T scanner, in five healthy volunteers.
Results: At the TE of 30 ms, the myo-inositol signal intensity was substantially reduced. Quantification using LCModel yielded a glycine-to-creatine ratio of 0.14 +/- 0.01, with a Cramér-Rao lower bound (CRLB) of 7 +/- 1%. Furthermore, quantification of metabolites other than glycine was possible as well, with a CRLB mostly below 10%.
Conclusion: It is possible to detect glycine at 7 T in human brain, at the short TE of 30 ms with a single spin-echo excitation scheme.