Isabelle Iltis1, Dinesh Kumar Deelchand1, Christopher Nelson1, Pierre-Gilles Henry1, Malgorzata Marjanska1
1Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
In this work, we measured hyperpolarized 13C signals in the rat brain in vivo following i.v. injection of hyperpolarized [2-13C]pyruvate in fasted and non-fasted animals. Time courses were obtained for resonances from [2-13C]pyruvate, [2-13C]pyruvate hydrate and [2-13C]lactate. Using LASER, we observed in the brain a resonance at 182.8 ppm only when the animals were fasted. This suggests that [2-13C]-pyruvate is metabolized in the liver and one of its byproducts is transported to the brain.