Chung, Brian T., Hsin-Yu Chen, Jeremy Gordon, Daniele Mammoli, Renuka Sriram, Adam W. Autry, Lydia M. Le Page, et al. “First Hyperpolarized [2-13C]Pyruvate MR Studies of Human Brain Metabolism.” Journal of Magnetic Resonance 309 (December 2019): 106617.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmr.2019.106617.
We developed methods for the preparation of hyperpolarized (HP) sterile [2-13C]pyruvate to test its feasibility in first-ever human NMR studies following FDA-IND & IRB approval. Spectral results using this MR stable-isotope imaging approach demonstrated the feasibility of investigating human cerebral energy metabolism by measuring the dynamic conversion of HP [2-13C]pyruvate to [2-13C]lactate and [5- 13C]glutamate in the brain of four healthy volunteers. Metabolite kinetics, signal-tonoise (SNR) and area-under-curve (AUC) ratios, and calculated [2-13C]pyruvate to [2- 13C]lactate conversion rates (kPL) were measured and showed similar but not identical inter-subject values. The kPL measurements were equivalent with prior human HP [1-13C]pyruvate measurements.