Puneet Bagga1, Srisha Bolledula1, Harsith Reddy1, Rishika Reddy1, Apoorva Sudini1, Hari Hariharan1, and Ravinder Reddy1
Alanine is a highly abundant non-essential amino acid which provides an
alternate source of TCA cycle intermediates for energy and cell survival. It
has been shown that myc-driven
tumors utilize alanine as an energy source over lactate. Currently, alanine
can be detected in vivo only by 13C NMR spectroscopy. Chemical Exchange
Saturation Transfer (CEST) MRI is an imaging technique which exploits the
properties of exchangeable protons on the molecule for imaging. In the present
study, we have shown the in vitro CEST effect of solution containing alanine.