1 H‐[ 13 C] NMR spectroscopy of the rat brain during infusion of [2‐ 13 C] acetate at 14.1 T

Full signal intensity 1 H‐[ 13 C] NMR spectroscopy, combining a preceding 13 C‐editing block based on an inversion BISEP (B 1 ‐insensitive spectral editing pulse) with a spin‐echo coherence–based localization, was developed and implemented at 14.1 T. 13 C editing of the proposed scheme was achieved by turning on and off the 13 C adiabatic full passage in the 13 C‐editing block to prepare inverted and noninverted 13 C‐coupled 1 H coherences along the longitudinal axis prior to localization. The novel 1 H‐[ 13 C] NMR approach was applied in vivo under infusion of the glia‐specific substrate [2‐ 13 C] acetate. Besides a ∼50% improvement in sensitivity, spectral dispersion was enhanced at 14.1 T, especially for J‐coupled metabolites such as glutamate and glutamine. A more distinct spectral structure at 1.9–2.2 ppm(parts per million) was observed, e.g., glutamate C3 showed a doublet pattern in both simulated 1 H spectrum and in vivo 13 C‐edited 1 H NMR spectra. Besides 13 C time courses of glutamate C4 and glutamine C4, the time courses of glutamate C3 and glutamine C3 obtained by 1 H‐[ 13 C] NMR spectroscopy were reported for the first time. Such capability should greatly improve the ability to study neuron‐glial metabolism using 1 H‐observed 13 C‐edited NMR spectroscopy. Magn Reson Med, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.