Functional magnetic resonance spectroscopy of the brain (fMRS) uses magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to study brain metabolism during brain activation. The data generated by fMRS usually shows spectra of resonances, instead of a brain image, as with MRI. The area under peaks in the spectrum represents relative concentrations of metabolites.
fMRS is based on the same principles as in vivo magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). However, while conventional MRS records a single spectrum of metabolites from a region of interest, a key interest of fMRS is to detect multiple spectra and study metabolite concentration dynamics during brain function. Therefore, it is sometimes referred to as dynamic MRS, event-related MRS or time-resolved MRS. A novel variant of fMRS is functional diffusion-weighted spectroscopy (fDWS) which measures diffusion properties of brain metabolites upon brain activation.
Unlike in vivo MRS which is intensively used in clinical settings, fMRS is used primarily as a research tool, both in a clinical context, for example, to study metabolite dynamics in patients with epilepsy, migraine and dyslexia, and to study healthy brains. fMRS can be used to study metabolism dynamics also in other parts of the body, for example, in muscles and heart; however, brain studies have been far more popular.
The main goals of fMRS studies are to contribute to the understanding of energy metabolism in the brain, and to test and improve data acquisition and quantification techniques to ensure and enhance validity and reliability of fMRS studies.