{"doi":"10.1162/imag.a.903","title":"Spatial distribution of hyperpolarized [1-13C]pyruvate MRI and metabolic PET in the human brain","abstract":"Abstract Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of hyperpolarized (HP) [1-13C]pyruvate is a promising method for measuring cerebral energy metabolism in vivo. The substantial increase in signal provided by HP makes it possible to dynamically monitor the conversion of [1-13C]pyruvate to [1-13C]lactate and [13C]bicarbonate. The HP [1-13C]lactate signal is commonly associated with glycolic activity, whereas [13C]bicarbonate, a by-product of the reaction that forms acetyl-CoA, is linked to oxidative metabolism. However, there is compelling evidence that other factors, such as the concentration of monocarboxylate transporters, influence the production of HP [1-13C]lactate. To clarify the processes responsible for producing the topography of HP [1-13C]pyruvate and its metabolites, we spatially correlated group-average HP 13C MRI images with [18F]FDG, [15O]H2O, [15O]O2, and [15O]CO positron emission topography (PET) images from a separate group of 35 age- and sex-matched adults. We found that [1-13C]pyruvate correlated best with cerebral blood volume (CBV), whereas [1-13C]lactate and [13C]bicarbonate were most strongly associated with cerebral blood flow (CBF), glucose consumption (CMRglc), and oxygen metabolism (CMRO2). Neither [1-13C]lactate nor [13C]bicarbonate was correlated with non-oxidative glucose consumption, also known as aerobic glycolysis. These results are consistent with the view that in the healthy brain, the production of [1-13C]lactate reflects overall energy metabolism rather than being specific to glycolysis.","journal":"Imaging Neuroscience","year":2025,"id":528853,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":2,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9548,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2025-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":536485,"name":"Andrei G. Vlassenko","orcid":"0000-0002-4776-4855","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":289235,"name":"Manu S. Goyal","orcid":"0000-0003-1970-4270","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":259419,"name":"Hany Soliman","orcid":"0000-0003-2824-2100","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1205685,"name":"Charles H. Cunningham","orcid":"0000-0001-9636-8130","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":401767,"name":"Cornelius von Morze","orcid":"0000-0002-3992-1793","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":401770,"name":"Tyler Blazey","orcid":"0000-0002-3402-0654","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":0,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T02:50:52.565868Z","pmid":"41030321","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}