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Abstract #0537

Quantitative Assessment of Glucose Metabolism in Rat Brains using In Vivo Deuterium Magnetic Resonance

Ming Lu 1 , Xiao-Hong Zhu 1 , Yi Zhang 1 , Gheorghe Mateescu 2,3 , and Wei Chen 1

1 Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, 2 Case Center for Imaging Research and Radiology Department, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, United States, 3 Chemistry, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, United States

Simultaneous assessment of cerebral glucose consumption rate and associated major metabolic fluxes, such as TCA cycle, lower case Greek alpha -ketoglutarate/glutamate exchange and oxygen consumption, is crucial to understanding neuroenergetics under various physiological and pathological conditions. However, such simultaneous measurement has not been possible. In this study, a novel Deuterium MR (DMR) approach is proposed and tested in rat brains at 16.4 T. Following a brief injection of deuterated glucose, the dynamic glucose, glutamate/glutamine (Glx) and water concentration changes in the brain tissue were monitored by tracking their separate resonance signals in the 2 H spectra. To test the sensitivity of this method in response to altering metabolic rates, dynamics of brain deuterated glucose and Glx under 2% isoflurane anesthesia and constant morphine infusion were compared. As expected, increasing glucose consumption and labeled Glx turnover rates were found in the morphine group. The overall results indicate that the new in vivo DMR approach is robust and reliable for simultaneously detecting the changes in glucose and Glx contents in the rat brain with superior sensitivity. When combined with metabolic modeling, simultaneous measurement of glucose consumption rate, TCA cycle flux and lower case Greek alpha -ketoglutarate/glutamate exchange rate can be achieved in animal and human brains.

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