Metabolic information from the human fetal brain obtained with proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy

Objective: To study the feasibility of proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy for the examination of human fetal brain metabolism. Study Design: Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy was performed from a selected volume of brain tissue of 21 single normal fetuses of 36 to 41 weeks’ gestational age. Absolute brain metabolite tissue levels were estimated by using the brain water content as an internal reference. Results: Proton magnetic resonance spectra showed resonances for four dominating brain metabolites. Inositol, choline, creatine, and N-acetylaspartate could be detected with average tissue levels of 7.42 mmol/L, 3.31 mmol/L, 4.16 mmol/L, and 5.03 mmol/L, respectively. The resonance for N-acetylaspartate could not always be resolved from contaminating lipid signals. Conclusion: Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy of the human fetal brain is feasible and can provide useful information about the fetal condition. The metabolite tissue levels for the fetal brain obtained in this study were in the range observed for neonates of similar gestational age. (Am J Obstet Gynecol 2001;185:1011–5.)