Magnetic resonance spectroscopy: an in vivo tool for monitoring cerebral injury in SIV-infected macaques

: The purpose of our study was to demonstrate the feasibility of using in vivo proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS) to monitor the brain manifestations of SIV infection in the macaque model of AIDS. Previous spectroscopy work on macaque brain tissue and in vivo work in humans is reviewed to provide the motivation and context for this study. We collected 34 MRS data sets on 14 uninfected rhesus macaques. From this data, we demonstrate that we are capable of detecting changes similar to those observed in human MRS studies for most metabolites using less than 10 animals. The juvenile macaques utilized in this study demonstrate age‐related changes in the levels of N‐acetyl aspartate (NAA), a neuronal marker. The quantity and distribution of neurochemicals in the macaque are found to be slightly, but significantly, different than in the human.