Scalable Hyperpolarized MRI Enabled by Ace‐SABRE of [1‐ <sup>13</sup> C]Pyruvate
Stephen McBride, Megan Pike, Erica Curran, Alexander I. Zavriyev, Bukola Adebesin, Luke Tucker, Jared M. Harzan, Ishani M. Senanayake, Mustapha Abdulmojeed, Franziska Theiss, Sheng Shen, Thomas Boele, Simon B. Duckett, Boyd M. Goodson, Matthew S. Rosen, Eduard Y. Chekmenev, Hong Yuan, Carlos Dedesma, T. Gade, Stephen Kadlecek, Thomas Theis, Patrick TomHon
Abstract
Abstract Hyperpolarized (HP) MRI using [1– 13 C]pyruvate is emerging as a promising molecular imaging approach. Among hyperpolarization methods, Signal Amplification By Reversible Exchange (SABRE) is attractive because SABRE polarizes the substrates directly in room‐temperature solutions avoiding complex hardware. Most SABRE experiments have historically been performed in methanol, a relatively toxic and difficult‐to‐remove solvent. Here we demonstrate the use of a 80/20 acetone/water (A/W) solvent system (Ace‐SABRE) to provide hyperpolarized [1– 13 C]pyruvate with up to 17% polarization, then implement a solvent processing protocol to achieve injectable solutions retaining 74% of the initial polarization, and lastly we demonstrate HP in vivo spectroscopy and imaging using the Ace‐SABRE platform to showcase metabolic tracking in a hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tumor as well as HP‐MRI, both in direct comparison to dissolution dynamic nuclear polarization (d‐DNP) experiments. The Ace‐SABRE technique promises faster adoption of SABRE hyperpolarization in biological experiments, overall lowering the barriers to entry for HP‐NMR and HP‐MRI.