Thomas Trantzschel1, Ute Bommerich2,
Joachim Bargon3, Johannes Bernarding1
1Dept. of Biometrics and Medical
Informatics, Otto-von-Guericke-University, Magdeburg, Germany; 2Leibniz
Institute for Neurobiology, Magdeburg, Germany; 3Institute of
Physical and Theoretical Chemistry, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
The
lack of natural background signal in body tissues qualifies fluorinated
substrates as excellent reporter molecules for MRI and MRS investigations. As
a further advantage many pharmaceuticals contain 19F allowing for
detection of pharmacokinetics and metabolism as well as to investigate
anatomical and physiological features, e.g. lung volume. However, due to the
restricted in vivo substrate concentration the 19F-signals often
remain weak. To overcome these restrictions we enhanced the 19F
signal via ParaHydrogen Induced Polarization. Additionally, we increased the
efficiency of the spin polarization transfer to this nucleus by applying a
field cycling procedure which improves the SNR in 19F-MRI.
Keywords