High-field 31P Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS) in human brain.

Abstract

The pioneer paper of Moon & Richards in 1973 recorded the 31P NMR spectrum of red blood cells. After this breakthrough, the application of 31P NMR to biological systems has become more and more popular. The range of those 31P NMR studies is pretty broad, from the simple observation of anaerobic metabolism to the elegant combination of physiology and spectroscopy. However, the severe overlap of multiplet resonances and relatively low detection sensitivity in the 31P spectra acquired at low fields pose many limitations in in vivo applications. These limitations can be potentially overcome at high fields. The goal of this project is to study the advantages of high-field 31P MRS in human brain through the following specific aims: • To investigate the improvement of sensitivity and spectral resolution of in vivo 31P MRS in human brain at high fields (4T, 7T ) and their field dependence; • To achieve 3D 31P chemical shift imaging covering whole human brain, quantify metabolite concentrations and other physiological parameters provided by in vivo 31P MRS, and study the bioenergetic differentiations among different brain tissues; • To study creatine kinase enzyme activity via 31P magnetization transfer experiments.