- 作者：Ahmet Kemal Firat ; Murat Uğ ; raş ; Hakkı ; M. Karakaş ; Gü ; lnur Erdem ; Meltem Kurus ; Meltem Ugras ; Tayfun Celik ; Bayram Kahraman ; Selim Doğ ; anay
- 关键词：Testis ; Infertility ; Choline ; Lipid ; Magnetic resonance spectroscopy
- 刊名：Magnetic Resonance Imaging
- 出版年：2008
- 出版时间：February 2008
- 年：2008
- 卷：26
- 期：2
- 页码：215-220
- 全文大小：573 K
Materials and Methods
The subjects consisted of male volunteers, of whom 19 were prepubertal with ages between 7 and 13 years and 24 were postpubertal with ages between 19 and 39 years. Their testes were evaluated at 1.5 T with magnetic resonance spectroscopy; in addition, testis volumes were measured. Major metabolite peaks were identified and their ratios were calculated. Metabolite differences of testis between pre- and postpubertal age were analyzed.
Results
Major constituents of spectra were 3.21 ppm choline and 0.9–1.3 ppm lipid peaks. At the echo time (TE) spectrum of 31 ms, choline/lipid ratios ranged from 0.35 to 8.30 (mean=1.87) in postpubertal males and from 0.06 to 5.45 (mean=0.88) in prepubertal males (P<.013). At the TE spectrum of 136 ms, choline/lipid ratios ranged from 0.66 to 15.42 (mean=4.09) in postpubertal males and from 0.05 to 4.91 (mean=0.9) in prepubertal males (P<.016).
Conclusions
Choline/lipid ratio was higher in the postpubertal period. The existence of higher choline peak in that age group should be due to the initiation of spermatogenesis. The decrease in the lipid peak may represent the effect of testosterone on testicular tissue or may be due to histochemical changes initiated by puberty. The significant decrease in choline/lipid ratio noted after puberty could represent the presence of spermatogenesis. This hypothesis should be evaluated by further studies on postpubertal subjects with impaired spermatogenesis.