Epidemiological studies show that altitude-of-residence is an independent risk factor for worsening rates of mood disorders, substance abuse, and suicide. Proton (1H) magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) studies in rodent models of moderate-to-high altitude exposure have documented significant alterations in total creatine, glutamate, and myo-inositol, neurometabolites involved in bioenergetic homeostasis and neuronal/glial cell function. This preliminary study utilized 3 Tesla 1H MRS to study anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and parietal-occipital cortex (POC) neurochemistry in healthy subjects residing in Utah (n = 19), Massachusetts (n = 10), and South Carolina (n = 10), to test the hypothesis that individuals residing at moderate altitude (Utah; 1,372 m) would show neurometabolite alterations vs. subjects living at sea level. Expressed as ratios to total N-acetyl aspartate (NAA), Utah participants showed lower ACC (p = 0.03) and POC (p < 0.01) total creatine, a trend towards lower ACC glutamate (p = 0.06), and lower POC myo-inositol (p = 0.02). Study limitations include small sample sizes and uncorrected multiple comparisons. To our knowledge, this is the first MRS investigation to identify potential neurochemical differences in individuals residing at moderate altitudes vs. sea level, warranting future 1H MRS studies in larger cohorts and across a range of altitudes-of-residence.

流行病学研究表明，居住海拔高度是情绪障碍、药物滥用和自杀率恶化的独立危险因素。在中度至高空曝光的啮齿动物模型中的质子（1H）磁共振波谱（MRS）的研究已经在总肌酸，谷氨酸记载显著改变，和肌醇肌醇，参与生物能量体内平衡和神经元/神经胶质细胞的功能神经代谢。这项初步研究利用 3 Tesla 1H MRS 研究居住在犹他州 ( n  = 19)、马萨诸塞州 ( n  = 10) 和南卡罗来纳州 ( n ) 的健康受试者的前扣带皮层 (ACC) 和顶枕叶皮层 (POC) 神经化学 = 10)，以检验居住在中等海拔（犹他州；1,372 m）的个体与生活在海平面的受试者相比会显示神经代谢物改变的假设。以与总 N-乙酰天冬氨酸 (NAA) 的比率表示，犹他州的参与者表现出较低的 ACC ( p  = 0.03) 和 POC ( p < 0.01) 总肌酸、较低的 ACC 谷氨酸 ( p  = 0.06) 和较低的 POC肌醇（p  = 0.02）。研究局限性包括样本量小和未经校正的多重比较。据我们所知，这是第一次 MRS 调查，以确定居住在中等海拔与海平面的个体的潜在神经化学差异，保证未来在更大的队列中和跨居住海拔的范围进行 1H MRS 研究。