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. 2011 Sep;4(5):573-5.
doi: 10.4161/cib.16213. Epub 2011 Sep 1.

What are we measuring with GABA magnetic resonance spectroscopy?

Charlotte J Stagg  1 , Velicia Bachtiar, Heidi Johansen-Berg
Affiliations

What are we measuring with GABA magnetic resonance spectroscopy?

Charlotte J Stagg et al. Commun Integr Biol. 2011 Sep.

Abstract

A number of recent papers1-3 have demonstrated a relationship between in vivo concentration of GABA, as assessed using Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS), and an individual's task performance, giving a unique insight into the relationship between physiology and behavior. However, interpretation of the functional significance of the MRS GABA measure is not straightforward. Here we discuss some of the outstanding questions as to how total concentration of GABA within a cortical region relates to phasic and tonic GABA activity within the cortical volume studied.

Keywords: gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA); human; inter-individual differences; magnetic resonance spectroscopy; motor cortex.

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Comment on

  • The role of GABA in human motor learning.
    Stagg CJ, Bachtiar V, Johansen-Berg H. Stagg CJ, et al. Curr Biol. 2011 Mar 22;21(6):480-4. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2011.01.069. Epub 2011 Mar 3. Curr Biol. 2011. PMID: 21376596 Free PMC article.

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