Fig. 1: 13C MR images, acquired at 3 T, of hyperpolarized 13C-labelled pyruvate, lactate and bicarbonate (overlaid on a T2-weighted 1H image) and 2H MR images, acquired at 9.4 T, of 2H-labelled glucose and Glx in the brains of healthy volunteers.

The 13C images are the sum of 20 images acquired over 60 s following the intravenous injection of 0.43 mL/kg of ~250 mM hyperpolarized [1-13C]pyruvate. The nominal image resolution was 1.5 × 1.5 × 2 cm3. The 2H images show three 10 min images, acquired between 91.5 and 121.5 min after oral administration of 0.75 g/kg body weight of [6,6’-2H2]glucose. The nominal image resolution was 1.5 × 1.54 × 1.29 cm3. Bicarbonate and Glx labelling are higher in the grey matter, reflecting increased TCA cycle activity in grey matter as compared to white matter. The images were taken, with permission, from49,50.