Metabolism of Hyperpolarized 1-13C-Lactate in Living Breast Cancer Cell Cultures

Talia Harris¹, Galit Eliyahu², Lucio Frydman¹, Hadassa Degani²

The enhanced polarization enabled by ex situ Dynamic Nuclear Polarization may allow us to follow metabolic processes non-invasively with unprecedented sensitivity and temporal resolution. In order to understand the altered metabolism of cancer and screen for additional biomarkers we have developed a perfusion-infusion bioreactor, allowing hyperpolarized metabolic measurements on living cell cultures. In this work we compare the metabolism of 1-¹³C-Pyruvate and 1-¹³C-Lactate in breast cancer cells. The kinetic measurements allow us to demonstrate that the metabolism of 1-¹³C-Lactate is transport limited, as was previously established for 1-¹³C-Pyruvate.