Hyperpolarized Carbon-13 Magnetic Resonance Fingerprinting in Normal Brain

Motivation: Hyperpolarized (HP) Carbon-13 is a powerful method to measure metabolism in vivo, but is still sensitivity-limited. Goal(s): Establish a reliable method to measure pyruvate uptake and metabolic conversion to lactate in human brain. Approach: Improved pulse sequence design was performed using MR Fingerprinting framework. Four healthy volunteers were examined using novel method. The metabolic rates within different regions of the brain were compared using ROI analyses. Results: Metabolic rate conversion maps show promising anatomic correlates, with reproducible trends shown in measured maps between subjects with highest kPL in cortex and lowest in centrum semiovale. Impact: For the first time, we demonstrated novel approach to reliably measure pyruvate-to-lactate metabolism at 4x higher resolution over most advanced existing methods. These improvements may benefit detection and characterization of pathology, including brain cancer, dementia, aging, autoimmune diseases, and inflammation.