In Vivo Biochemical Imaging of HCC Tumor Bearing Rats Using Hyperpolarized [1-13C]pyruvate and 18F-FDG

Marion I. Menzel¹, Eliane Weidl², Martin A. Janich², Oleksandr Khegai¹, Florian Wiesinger¹, Axel Haase³, Rolf F. Schulte¹, Markus Schwaiger²

In Vivo biochemical imaging using hyperpolarized [1-13C]pyruvate and 18F-FDG PET in HCC tumor rats was compared. Findings for uptake, compartmentalization of signal and overall tumor visibility were correlated with physiological and biochemical data. While all tumors showed high signal in PET, integrated metabolite images shown only 40 % (pyruvate) and 70 % (lactate) of all tumors. Analysis of 13C signal dynamics revealed a statistically higher proportion of pyruvate reaching the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) than the tumors, with tumors exhibiting higher turnover of pyruvate to lactate and alanine than GIT, indicating a compartmentalization effect of [1-13C]pyruvate and its downstream me-tabolites.