Alcohol as a Substitute for Acetate in 13 C MRS Study of Brain Metabolism

Yun Xiang¹, Jun Shen¹

Acetate is a glia-specific subtract and has been used to study brain metabolism. Potential risk in intravenously infusing sodium acetate to patients is unknown in many disorders. The effect of alcohol (ethanol) consumption is well understood. Alcohol is predominantly metabolized into acetate in the liver. In the present study, steady sate ¹³C spectra of rat brain acquired after administration of [1-¹³C] ethanol were found to be highly similar to spectra obtained using [1-¹³C] acetate, suggesting that oral administration of [1-¹³C] alcohol could replace intravenous infusion of sodium [1-¹³C] acetate in certain studies when the direct effect of alcohol is unimportant for the subject of the study.