# Edited Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy of the Pediatric Brain

> **NIH NIH R01** · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $634,279

## Abstract

Summary
 Human neurochemistry undergoes dramatic changes in early childhood, due to the rapid pace of
development. However, techniques for assessing neurochemistry non-invasively by magnetic resonance
spectroscopy (MRS) in young children are limited. Spectral editing is the gold-standard for detecting MRS
signals from key neurometabolites such as the neurotransmitters glutamate (Glu) and GABA, the
neuromodulators N-acetyl aspartyl glutamate (NAAG) and aspartate (Asp), the redox compounds glutathione
(GSH) and ascorbate (Asc), the anaerobic glycolysis product lactate (Lac), and the membrane lipid precursor
phosphorylethanolamine (PE). Measurement of these lower-concentration metabolites is vital for investigating
healthy and disrupted neurodevelopment, including inhibitory dysfunction, oxidative stress, myelination and
mitochondrial metabolic disruption.
 To date, spectral editing has not been applied at large in pediatrics – arguably the arena in which they will
be leveraged most powerfully for scientific discovery and clinical value. This project will develop acquisition
and analysis tools for multi-metabolite MRS in the pediatric brain, focusing on developing motion-robust
acquisitions. It will also acquire reference data for the best-practice analysis of pediatric spectra, including the
macromolecular background spectrum and metabolite relaxometry.
This project will have a key push-pull interaction with the HEALthy Brain & Child Development (HBCD)
Study, a 25-site national study of neurodevelopmental risk factors (including four sites in this
proposal). HBCD applies the acquisition and analysis methods developed by PI Edden's group
(HERCULES and Osprey), and Drs. Edden and Wisnowski are co-chairs of the HBCD MRS working
group. Dissemination of methods from this project will directly support HBCD, and this new focus on
methods development for pediatric cohorts will allow us to directly address technical issues as they
arise in HBCD. Data acquired during HBCD will supplement the data acquired in this grant as we
develop a profound new understanding of the neurometabolic trajectory of early childhood.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10840798
- **Project number:** 5R01EB032788-02
- **Recipient organization:** JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Richard Anthony Edward Edden
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $634,279
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-06-01 → 2027-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10840798

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10840798, Edited Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy of the Pediatric Brain (5R01EB032788-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-01 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10840798. Licensed CC0.

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