Detection of Elevated Succinate in Brain During Circulatory Arrest: A 3T 1H MR Spectroscopy Study

Motivation: To measure succinate in brain during circulatory arrest in a piglet model of cardiac bypass. Goal(s): Dynamic measurement of succinate using 3T MR spectroscopyApproach: Spectral fits of the archived data were used to create dynamic plots of succinate, to provide statistics, and to generate simulated spectra for validation. Results: Elevation of succinate during circulatory arrest was observed and validated. Fitting bias was evaluated over the linewidths and signal-to-noise S/Ns of the archived data. Succinate increase did not appear to be dependent on bypass temperature. Succinate elevation was not observed with antegrade cerebral perfusion. Impact: Elevated succinate during ischemia has been identified as a source of ischemic-reperfusion injury. The ability to measure increased succinate during ischemia plus the ability to intercede with succinate inhibitors may have important consequence prior to re-perfusion in bypass and stroke.