Purpose To investigate metabolic exchange between 13C1-pyruvate, 13C1-lactate, and 13C1-alanine in preclinical model systems using kinetic modeling of dynamic hyperpolarized 13C spectroscopic data and to examine the relationship between fitted parameters and dose–response. Materials and methods Dynamic 13C spectroscopy data were acquired in normal rats, wild type mice, and mice with transgenic prostate tumors (TRAMP) either within a single slice or using a one-dimensional echo-planar spectroscopic imaging (1D-EPSI) encoding technique. Rate constants were estimated by fitting a set of exponential equations to the dynamic data. Variations in fitted parameters were used to determine model robustness in 15 mm slices centered on normal rat kidneys. Parameter values were used to investigate differences in metabolism between and within TRAMP and wild type mice. Results The kinetic model was shown here to be robust when fitting data from a rat given similar doses. In normal rats, Michaelis–Menten kinetics were able to describe the dose–response of the fitted exchange rate constants with a 13.65% and 16.75% scaled fitting error (SFE) for kpyr→lac and kpyr→ala, respectively. In TRAMP mice, kpyr→lac increased an average of 94% after up to 23 days of disease progression, whether the mice were untreated or treated with casodex. Parameters estimated from dynamic 13C 1D-EPSI data were able to differentiate anatomical structures within both wild type and TRAMP mice. Conclusions The metabolic parameters estimated using this approach may be useful for in vivo monitoring of tumor progression and treatment efficacy, as well as to distinguish between various tissues based on metabolic activity.

In order to compare in vivo metabolism between malignant gliomas and normal brain, (13)C magnetic resonance (MR) spectroscopic imaging data were acquired from rats with human glioblastoma xenografts (U-251 MG and U-87 MG) and normal rats, following injection of hyperpolarized [1-(13)C]-pyruvate. The median signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of lactate, pyruvate, and total observed carbon-13 resonances, as well as their relative ratios, were calculated from voxels containing Gadolinium-enhanced tissue in T(1) postcontrast images for rats with tumors and from normal brain tissue for control rats. [1-(13)C]-labeled pyruvate and its metabolic product, [1-(13)C]-lactate, demonstrated significantly higher SNR in the tumor compared with normal brain tissue. Statistical tests showed significant differences in all parameters (P < .0004) between the malignant glioma tissue and normal brain. The SNR of lactate, pyruvate, and total carbon was observed to be different between the U-251 MG and U-87 MG models, which is consistent with inherent differences in the molecular characteristics of these tumors. These results suggest that hyperpolarized MR metabolic imaging may be valuable for assessing prognosis and monitoring response to therapy for patients with brain tumors.