Table 5.

The metabolite concentration ratios [/tCr (total creatine)] and absolute concentrations (mmol kg_ww⁻¹, expressed as mean ± standard deviation) in different ages and regions (the first-line data are metabolite concentration ratios and the second-line data are absolute concentrations)

Metabolites	Age groups	Centrum semiovale	Hippocampus	Thalamus
N-acetylaspartic acida	Children	1.21 ± 0.39 6.62 ± 0.37	1.14 ± 0.20 6.18 ± 0.73	1.14 ± 0.18 7.71 ± 1.13
	Adults	1.57 ± 0.44 7.50 ± 0.67	1.12 ± 0.21 6.19 ± 1.01	1.12 ± 0.22 7.73 ± 0.91
	Middle-aged	1.05 ± 0.26 6.98 ± 0.92	1.01 ± 0.33 5.58 ± 0.65	1.03 ± 0.20 7.08 ± 1.02
Choline	Children	0.35 ± 0.08 2.05 ± 1.45	0.30 ± 0.03 2.06 ± 0.29	0.28 ± 0.04 1.72 ± 0.23
	Adults	0.34 ± 0.06 1.78 ± 0.25	0.29 ± 0.04 1.87 ± 0.22	0.25 ± 0.03 1.61 ± 0.15
	Middle-aged	0.36 ± 0.04 1.79 ± 0.20	0.29 ± 0.27 1.79 ± 0.31	0.26 ± 0.05 1.58 ± 0.30
Myo-inositola	Children	0.71 ± 0.15 4.00 ± 0.57	0.30 ± 0.03 2.05 ± 0.43	0.28 ± 0.04 1.72 ± 0.33
	Adults	0.51 ± 0.10 3.60 ± 0.57	0.40 ± 0.09 4.86 ± 0.97	0.60 ± 0.15 4.32 ± 0.82
	Middle-aged	0.82 ± 0.17 4.12 ± 0.76	0.99 ± 0.22 6.86 ± 1.26	0.71 ± 0.16 4.75 ± 0.96
Glutamate plus glutamine	Children	1.24 ± 0.15 5.40 ± 1.05	1.45 ± 0.13 9.90 ± 1.82	1.54 ± 0.16 9.55 ± 1.77
	Adults	1.16 ± 0.16 5.31 ± 0.89	1.30 ± 0.25 9.07 ± 1.76	1.33 ± 0.30 8.24 ± 1.65
	Middle-aged	1.08 ± 0.27 5.04 ± 1.18	1.41 ± 0.24 8.77 ± 1.52	1.14 ± 0.30 6.83 ± 1.21
Macromolecules at 0.9 ppm	Children	1.21 ± 0.15 5.32 ± 1.06	0.81 ± 0.12 5.57 ± 1.00	1.09 ± 0.09 6.75 ± 0.83
	Adults	1.05 ± 0.15 5.21 ± 0.65	0.98 ± 0.19 6.31 ± 1.02	0.98 ± 0.16 6.12 ± 0.79
	Middle-aged	1.02 ± 0.15 4.98 ± 1.19	0.91 ± 0.39 5.34 ± 2.13	1.03 ± 0.20 6.43 ± 0.99
Macromolecules at 1.2 ppm	Children	0.34 ± 0.05 1.52 ± 0.33	0.24 ± 0.06 1.65 ± 0.40	0.37 ± 0.03 2.31 ± 0.47
	Adults	0.36 ± 0.06 1.79 ± 0.54	0.31 ± 0.05 1.85 ± 0.56	0.32 ± 0.04 2.08 ± 0.45
	Middle-aged	0.32 ± 0.07 1.51 ± 0.24	0.30 ± 0.06 1.79 ± 0.36	0.33 ± 0.09 2.07 ± 0.42
Macromolecules at 1.4 ppm	Children	1.13 ± 0.48 4.51 ± 1.43	0.65 ± 0.17 4.50 ± 1.21	0.99 ± 0.20 6.17 ± 1.14
	Adults	0.94 ± 0.23 4.39 ± 1.10	0.85 ± 0.29 5.83 ± 1.33	0.85 ± 0.21 5.27 ± 1.28
	Middle-aged	0.86 ± 0.12 3.96 ± 0.90	0.88 ± 0.13 5.38 ± 0.91	0.89 ± 0.11 5.76 ± 0.98
tCr	Children	4.53 ± 0.45	6.89 ± 0.93	6.21 ± 0.36
	Adults	4.57 ± 0.85	6.88 ± 0.97	6.22 ± 0.57
	Middle-aged	4.91 ± 0.37	6.10 ± 0.94	6.25 ± 0.49

^aSignificant difference (p < 0.05).