MRI/MRS

Use of ¹³C Isotopes in MR Research

Dr. Pratip Bhattacharya
California Institute of Technology and Huntington Medical Research Institutes, Pasadena, California

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS) are both valuable and highly accurate means for measuring and imaging metabolic processes in vivo using amino acids, carbohydrates, fatty acids or nucleic acids labeled with stable isotope like Carbon-13 (¹³C), Nitrogen-15 (¹⁵N), Phosphorus-31 (³¹P), Sodium-23 (²³Na), Deuterium (H₂), and Oxygen-17 (¹⁷O). These non-radioactive, stable isotopically labeled products allow for real-time imaging and quantification of metabolic process in vivo in plant, animal, or human subjects.

¹³C MRS : The power of ¹³C MRS lies in its unique chemical specificity, enabling detection and quantification of metabolic intermediates which would not be so readily monitored using conventional radiochemical techniques. Improvements in NMR technologies, now permits us to obtain in vivo localized (1) and non-localized (2) ¹³C NMR spectra from rodent and human brain with similar quantity to those obtained earlier only under in vitro conditions, providing in this way a wealth of information on neurotransmitter recycling, cerebral bioenergetics in situ. In vivo and in vitro¹³C MRS was also accomplished in liver, skeletal muscle, heart, adipose tissue, kidney and pancreatic islets yielding a variety of invaluable information. Go to Article