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Acute Restraint-Mediated Increases in Glutamate Levels in the Rat Brain: An In Vivo 1H-MRS Study at 4.7 T

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Abstract

It is well known that a variety of stressors induces a significant alteration in various putative neurotransmitters in the mammalian CNS. However, relatively little attention has been paid on the alteration of central glutamate neurotransmission, which is a major excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain. The present study aimed to determine whether acute restraint stress induces the changes in neurotransmitter level, especially glutamate, in rat brain and to examine whether 1-h recovery time after the termination of stress can revert to its pre-stress state. In vivo 1H-NMR spectra were acquired from the cerebral cortex and hippocampus (control: N = 10, stress: N = 10, stress + 1 h rest: N = 10) immediately or after 1 h rest from restraint stress. All in vivo proton spectra were automatically analyzed using LCModel. We found that acute restraint stress induced significant increase in glutamate concentrations in the cerebral cortex and the hippocampus of rat. However, the level could not revert to its pre-stress state by the end of 1-h recovery period in cerebral cortex of rats. In addition, glutamine/glutamate ratio, which may function as an index of the glutamatergic neurotransmission, was significantly lower in the cerebral cortex of both stress and 1 h stress + 1 h recovery groups, as compared to control. Our finding may provide important evidence for altered glutamatergic activity after the stress and suggest a potential biochemical marker for eventual diagnosis and/or therapy monitoring in mood disorder.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the program of Basic Atomic Energy Research Institute (BAERI) (2010-0018142) which is a part of the Nuclear R&D Programs funded by the Ministry of Education, Science & Technology (MEST) of Korea and Seoul Fellowship from the Seoul Scholarship Foundation. And this work was supported by using animal MRI system at Korea Basic Science Institute (KBSI).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biomedical Engineering and Research Institute of Biomedical Engineering, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, #505 Banpo-Dong, Seocho-Gu, Seoul, 137-040, Republic of Korea

    Sang-Young Kim, Do-Wan Lee & Bo-Young Choe

  2. Division of Magnetic Resonance Research, Korea Basic Science Institute, 804-1 Yangcheong-Ri, Ochang-Myun, Cheongwon-Gun, Choongbuk, Republic of Korea

    Eun-Ju Jang, Kwan Su Hong, Chulhyun Lee & Hyunseung Lee

  3. Department of Veterinary Diagnostic Radiology, Dr. PET Animal Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Chi-Bong Choi

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  1. Sang-Young Kim
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Correspondence to Bo-Young Choe.

Additional information

This paper was accepted for presentation at the 19th Scientific Meeting and Exhibition of the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine in Montréal, Canada, May 7–13, 2011.

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Kim, SY., Jang, EJ., Hong, K.S. et al. Acute Restraint-Mediated Increases in Glutamate Levels in the Rat Brain: An In Vivo 1H-MRS Study at 4.7 T. Neurochem Res 37, 740–748 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11064-011-0668-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11064-011-0668-y

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