A Broadly Deployable Method for Repeated Hyperpolarized 13 C Metabolic Imaging in Living Animals
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Hyperpolarized 13 C-MRI enables real-time imaging of metabolic conversions in vivo, but remains largely restricted to specialized sites with superconducting high-field MRI and polarization infrastructure. Here we present a broadly deployable method for preclinical hyperpolarized 13 C-metabolic imaging, which combines signal amplification by reversible exchange (SABRE), a parahydrogen-based hyperpolarization technique, with detection of [1- 13 C]pyruvate-d 3 in a compact 436 mT permanent-magnet small-animal MRI system. SABRE yields 13 C-pyruvate polarization of 13% at ~30 mM in a purified, biocompatible solution, with a T 1 relaxation time of 140 s. In a transgenic breast cancer mouse model, 13 C-chemical shift imaging after injection resolves pyruvate, pyruvate hydrate and lactate in vivo, maps elevated lactate-to-pyruvate ratios in mammary tumors and images three freshly prepared pyruvate doses sequentially in the same animal in less than one hour. This compact SABRE-to-low-field method makes repeated hyperpolarized 13 C-metabolic imaging mobile and accessible in standard preclinical research environments.
Source: ChemRxiv
Authors: Josef Elsasser, Stefan Sell, Philipp Groß, Moritz Weigt, Zirun Wang, Henri de Maissin, Markus Mützel, Michael Distler, Toni Driessle, Martin Pichotka, Lisa Heß, Thomas Reinheckel, Gerd Strohmeier, Behnam Shamshiri, Sebastian Lucas, Maxim Zaitsev, Alexander Maier, Laura Harsan, Caroline Bund, Jan-Bernd Hövener, Leif Schröder, Andreas B. Schmidt
Institutions: University of Freiburg, University Medical Center Freiburg, German Cancer Research Center, Deutsches Konsortium für Translationale Krebsforschung, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Laboratoire des Sciences de l'Ingénieur, de l'Informatique et de l'Imagerie, Hôpitaux Universitaires de Strasbourg, Université de Strasbourg, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein, Heidelberg University
Language: English
Subfield: Spectroscopy
Field: Chemistry
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7222270588