In Vivo Measurements of Ethanol Concentration in Rabbit Brain by 1H Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy

In vivo 1H magnetic resonance spectroscopy was used to measure the cerebral ethanol concentration in the rabbit after both intraarterial and intragastric administration. There was good agreement between cerebral and blood ethanol concentrations at all times after administration by either route. Cerebral ethanol levels, measured using in vivo 1H spectroscopy, agreed well with those measured in perchloric acid extracts of brain, analyzed by both high-resolution 1H spectroscopy and gas chromatography. Ethanol may be useful as an indicator to measure cerebral blood flow by 1H spectroscopy and chemical shift-selective magnetic resonance imaging.