Hannes M. Wiesner1, David Z. Balla1, Rolf Pohmann1, Wei Chen2, Kamil Ugurbil2, Kamil Uludag1
1High-Field Magnetic Resonance Center, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tbingen, Germany; 2Radiology, Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, MN, USA
The direct NMR detection of 17O benefits particularly from higher field strengths and is a promising tool in the study of cerebral oxygen metabolism. The aim of this study was to acquire anatomical MRS images of H217O at natural abundance concentration in the rat head at 16.4 Tesla. Intra-cortical contrast and differences in tissue-specific relaxation of brain and muscle tissue were found, enabling optimizations in contrast and sensitivity. Based on these results implications on the spatial specificity of oxygen consumption (CMRO2) measurements using 17O2-enriched gas will be discussed.