Table 2.

Metabolite concentrations (mM) in left and right somatosensory cortices (SSCs) in controls and LBP participants

	NAA	mI	Cho	Glx
Left SSC
Controls	10.7 ± 2.0	4.7 ± 0.7	1.7 ± 0.2	12.7 ± 2.7
LBP	9.7 ± 0.5	4.6 ± 1.0	1.6 ± 0.6	11.8 ± 2.4
%	−9.0	−1.5	−1.8	−7.5
P-value	0.001	0.84	0.88	0.42
Right SSC
Controls	11.1 ± 1.7	5.2 ± 0.7	1.8 ± 0.2	11.9 ± 3.2
LBP	10.4 ± 1.3	5.0 ± 1.0	1.6 ± 0.3	10.8 ± 2.1
%	−6.1	−4.2	−12.5	−9.3
P-value	0.30	0.60	0.038	0.30

Abbreviations: LBP, low back pain; NAA, N-acetylasparatate; mI, myo-inositol; Cho, choline; Glx, glutamate/glutamine.