PURPOSE: To evaluate the spatial distribution of various proton metabolites in the human brain with use of water-suppressed in vivo 1H MR spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) technique MATERIALS AND METHODS: All of water-suppressed in vivo 1H MRSI were performed on 1.5 T whole-body MRI/MRS system using Stimulated Echo Acquisition Method (STEAM) Chemical shift Imaging (CSI) pulse sequence. T1 -weighted MR images were used for CSl Field Of View (FOV; 24 cm). Voxel size of 1.S cm3 was designated from the periphery of the brain which was divided by 1024 x 16 x 16data points. RESULTS: Metabolite images of N-acetylaspartate (NAA), creatine/phosphocreatine (Cr) + choline/phosphocholine (Cho), and complex of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) -I- glutamate (Glu) were obtained on the human brain. CONCLUSION: Our preliminary study suggests that in vivo 1H MRSl could provide the metabolite imaging to compensate for hypermetabolism on Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scans on the basis of the metabolic informations on brain tissues. The unique ability of in vivo 1H MRSI to offer noninvasive informations about tissue biochemistry in disease states will stimulate on clinical research and disease diagnosis.