Ethanol in Human Brain by Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy: Correlation With Blood and Breath Levels, Relaxation, and Magnetization Transfer

Abstract

1H MRS allows direct measurement of brain alcohol, formerly only possible indirectly through inferences from breath alcohol levels. Quantitation of brain alcohol levels need to take into account measured relaxation times and alcohol signal attenuation due to presence and timing of standard radio frequency MRS pulses. Saturation experiments give evidence for the existence of more than one compartment of brain alcohol characterized by different molecular environments. They suggest that a fraction of brain alcohol is invisible to 1H MRS.