Jessica A. M. Bastiaansen1, Tian Cheng1,
Mor Mishkovsky1,2, Arnaud Comment1,2, Rolf Gruetter1,3
1Laboratory of Functional
& Metabolic Imaging, Ecole Polytechnique
Fdrale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland; 2Department of
Radiology, Universit de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland; 3Department
of Radiology, Universit de Lausanne et Genve, Lausanne & Geneva,
Switzerland
Carnitine plays a vital role in the regulation of muscle fuel metabolism and buffers mitochondrial acetyl CoA via rapid conversion into acetyl carnitine. Hyperpolarized 13C MR offers the possibility to directly monitor acetyl carnitine kinetics and provides significant new information about its metabolism. Herein, we studied acetyl carnitine kinetics in vivo following injections of hyperpolarized 1-13C acetate. Using a one site exchange metabolic model, we investigated acetyl carnitine formation in skeletal muscle in vivo and determined its kinetics to provide a paradigm for future studies involving altered pathology.