Franz Schilling1,
2, Jan Henrik Ardenkjr-Larsen3, Martin A. Janich2,
Marion I. Menzel2, Lise Vejby Sgaard3
1Institute
of Medical Engineering, Technische Universitt Mnchen, Garching, Germany; 2GE
Global Research, Garching, Germany; 3Danish Research Centre for
Magnetic Resonance, Copenhagen University Hospital Hvidovre, Hvidovre,
Denmark
We suggest a new approach to characterize the metabolism by performing apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) measurements of hyperpolarized metabolites in-vivo. A diffusion-weighted pulse sequence was developed based on the pulsed gradient spin echo with low flip angle (α = 20˚) slice selective excitation in combination with a band-selective universal-rotation refocusing pulse optimized by optimal control theory. In two rats, we acquired 13C-metabolite ADCs in 3 spatial directions from lactate, alanine and pyruvate in muscle tissue at 4 different positions. The analysis of diffusion properties of intracellularly produced hyperpolarized compounds might potentially be useful for characterizing pathological changes in tumor cells.
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