In Vivo Metabolic Imaging of [1-C-13]Pyruvate-d(3) Hyperpolarized By Reversible Exchange With Parahydrogen

Metabolic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using hyperpolarized (HP) pyruvate is becoming a non-invasive technique for diagnosing, staging, and monitoring response to treatment in cancer and other diseases. The clinically established method for producing HP pyruvate, dissolution dynamic nuclear polarization, however, is rather complex and slow. Signal Amplification By Reversible Exchange (SABRE) is an ultra-fast and low-cost method based on fast chemical exchange. Here, for the first time, we demonstrate not only in vivo utility, but also metabolic MRI with SABRE. We present a novel routine to produce aqueous HP [1-C-13]pyruvate-d(3) for injection in 6 minutes. The injected solution was sterile, non-toxic, pH neutral and contained & AP;30 mM [1-C-13]pyruvate-d(3) polarized to & AP;11 % (residual 250 mM methanol and 20 & mu;M catalyst). It was obtained by rapid solvent evaporation and metal filtering, which we detail in this manuscript. This achievement makes HP pyruvate MRI available to a wide biomedical community for fast metabolic imaging of living organisms.

Automated summary

Metabolic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using hyperpolarized (HP) pyruvate is a non-invasive technique for diagnosing, staging, and monitoring response to treatment in various diseases. The Signal Amplification By Reversible Exchange (SABRE) method provides a fast and low-cost way to produce HP pyruvate. In this study, a novel routine to produce aqueous HP [1-C-13]pyruvate-d(3) for injection in 6 minutes was demonstrated, making HP pyruvate MRI available to a wide biomedical community for fast metabolic imaging of living organisms.