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Abstract #3324

Imaging Glutamine Synthesis Rates in the Hyperammonemic Rat Brain

Cristina Cudalbu1, Vladimr Mlynrik2, Bernard Lanz2, Hanne Frenkel2, Nicolas Costers2,3, Rolf Gruetter2,4

1Laboratory for Functional and Metabolic Imaging (LIFMET), Ecole Polytechnique Fdrale de Lausanne (EPFL) , Lausanne, Switzerland; 2Laboratory for Functional and Metabolic Imaging (LIFMET), Ecole Polytechnique Fdrale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland; 3Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; 4Departments of Radiology, Universities of Lausanne and Geneva, Switzerland


The aim of the study was to image for the first time the in vivo effect of hyperammonemia per se on 12 brain metabolites using short TE 1H SI . We also mapped the net glutamine synthesis rates during hyperammonemia. Contrary to other models of hyperammonemia associated with experimental acute liver failures, no changes in spatial distribution of metabolites were observed except of Gln increase (higher in cortex than in hippocampus). We imaged for the first time the net glutamine accumulation in vivo, and showed that the rates were significantly higher in the cortex than in the hippocampus.