Philip Lee1, Marie Schroeder2,
Daniel Ball2, Kieran Clarke2, George Radda1,
Damian Tyler2
1Singapore Bioimaging Consortium,
Biomedical Sciences Institute, Singapore, Singapore; 2Department
of Physiology, Anatomy & Genetics, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
Imaging
of cardiac metabolism using 13C-MRS is currently hindered by both a low
sensitivity and a low natural abundance of 13C. The recent development of
liquid state Dynamic Nuclear Polarization (DNP) techniques has dramatically
increased the signal available from 13C-MRS experiments and has opened up new
possibilities for metabolic imaging of the heart. By injecting hyperpolarized
13C-labeled pyruvate into a perfused rat heart, followed by high spatial
resolution chemical shift imaging (CSI) during an optimum acquisition window,
we were able to image the bio-distribution of lactate, bicarbonate and
alanine within 46 s.