Quantification of vitamin C in the rat brain in vivo using short echo-time ¹H MRS

Both ultrashort echo-time STEAM and MEGA-PRESS-edited spectroscopy were used to validate noninvasive quantification of vitamin C (ascorbate) in the developing rat brain, where changes in ascorbate concentration have been reported. Despite strong overlap with resonances from glutamine, glutamate, glutathione, and macromolecules, reliable quantification of ascorbate (Cramer-Rao lower bounds < 0.2 μmol/g) by LC-Model analysis of STEAM (TE = 2 ms) spectra was possible at 9.4 T. Ascorbate concentrations quantified from the STEAEM spectra were in very good agreement with concentrations calculated from fully resolved ascorbate resonances in MEGA-PRESS-edited spectra measured from identical volumes of interest. Ascorbate concentrations measured using STEAM decreased with increasing postnatal rat age, in agreement with published brain ascorbate concentrations measured in vitro using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).