In vivo metabolic imaging at low magnetic field

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is an excellent technique for medical diagnosis. Nonetheless, people from rural areas and low-income countries cannot access MRI due to its high associated cost.

In recent years, low-field MRI has emerged as a potential solution to increase access to MRI, but at the cost of reduced signal sensitivity.

This is a limiting factor in terms of resolution, traceable quantities of metabolites, and early detection of tumor tissue.In this context, hyperpolarization (HP) has emerged as the most promising technique to compensate for the sensitivity losses at low magnetic fields.

HP can enhance signal intensity by >10,000 times, providing enough signal to image even species at low concentrations, such as metabolites internalized by cancer cells. Here, the first in vivo metabolic imaging methodology with hyperpolarization at low magnetic fields is proposed.

The project involves the development of 1H and HP 13C MRI at low field, the study of enzymatic conversion from HP pyruvate to other metabolites, and in vivo metabolic tumor imaging in mice. Para-hydrogen-induced polarization (PHIP) will be used to generate the HP contrast agent.

PHIP offers several advantages, including low costs, low instrumentation demands, rapid high-throughput, and scalable production of HP agents in the liquid state.The combination of low-field MRI with PHIP 13C has the potential to provide a method for early cancer detection in a low-cost scanner.