Purpose: Our aim was to determine the quantitative reproducibility of metabolic breakdown products in the kidney following intravenous injection of hyperpolarized [1-(13)C]pyruvate and secondly to investigate the metabolic effect on the pyruvate metabolism of oral sucrose load using dissolution dynamic nuclear polarization. By this technique, metabolic alterations in several different metabolic related diseases and their metabolic treatment responses can be accessed.
Methods: In four healthy pigs the lactate-to-pyruvate, alanine-to-pyruvate and bicarbonate-to-pyruvate ratio was measured following administration of regular cola and consecutive injections of hyperpolarized [1-(13)C]pyruvate four times within an hour.
Results: The overall lactate-to-pyruvate metabolic profile changed significantly over one hour following an acute sucrose load leading to a significant rise in blood glucose.
Conclusion: The reproducibility of hyperpolarized magnetic resonance spectroscopy in the healthy pig kidney demonstrated a repeatability of more than 94% for all metabolites and, furthermore, that the pyruvate to lactate conversion and the blood glucose level is elevated following endogastric sucrose administration.
Keywords: MRI; MRS; hyperpolarization; kidney; renal metabolism; sucrose.
© 2015 The Authors Magnetic Resonance in Medicine published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.