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

Full signal intensity ¹H‐¹³C] NMR spectroscopy, combining a preceding ¹³C‐editing block based on an inversion BISEP (B₁‐insensitive spectral editing pulse) with a spin‐echo coherence–based localization, was developed and implemented at 14.1 T. ¹³C editing of the proposed scheme was achieved by turning on and off the ¹³C adiabatic full passage in the ¹³C‐editing block to prepare inverted and noninverted ¹³C‐coupled ¹H coherences along the longitudinal axis prior to localization. The novel ¹H‐¹³C] NMR approach was applied in vivo under infusion of the glia‐specific substrate 2‐¹³C] 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 ¹H spectrum and in vivo ¹³C‐edited ¹H NMR spectra. Besides ¹³C time courses of glutamate C4 and glutamine C4, the time courses of glutamate C3 and glutamine C3 obtained by ¹H‐¹³C] NMR spectroscopy were reported for the first time. Such capability should greatly improve the ability to study neuron‐glial metabolism using ¹H‐observed ¹³C‐edited NMR spectroscopy. Magn Reson Med, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.