A Field‐Independent Method for the Rapid Generation of Hyperpolarized [1‐<sup>13</sup>C]Pyruvate in Clean Water Solutions for Biomedical Applications
Salvatore Mamone, Anil P. Jagtap, Sergey Korchak, Yonghong Ding, Sonja Sternkopf, Stefan Glöggler
Abstract
Abstract Hyperpolarization methods in magnetic resonance enhance the signals by several orders of magnitude, opening new windows for real‐time investigations of dynamic processes in vitro and in vivo. Here, we propose a field‐independent para‐hydrogen‐based pulsed method to produce rapidly hyperpolarized 13 C‐labeled substrates. We demonstrate the method by polarizing the carboxylic carbon of the pyruvate moiety in a purposely designed precursor to 24 % at ≈22 mT. Following a fast purification procedure, we measure 8 % polarization on free [1‐ 13 C]pyruvate in clean water solutions at physiological conditions at 7 T. The enhanced signals allow real‐time monitoring of the pyruvate‐lactate conversion in cancer cells, demonstrating the potential of the method for biomedical applications in combination with existing or developing magnetic resonance technologies.