Muscle Group Specific Quantification of Unsaturated Fatty Acids by Localized DEPT-Enhanced 13C MRS and ERETIC

Xing Chen¹, Anke Henning¹, Susanne Heinzer-Schweizer¹, Matteo Pavan¹, Peter Bsiger¹

The quantification of metabolite concentrations of spatially specific 13C NMR spectra is questionable due to the low sensitivity. We propose a combined SNR enhancement by proton decoupling and ISIS-localized DEPT, aiming at muscle-group specific detection of unsaturated fatty acid in the calf muscle. Comparative measurements of four localized SNR enhancement sequences were performed with a 13C/1H dual-tune volume calf coil equipped with ERETIC. ERETIC signal intensity with and without proton decoupling as determined with TDFDfit was identical. This ISIS-localized DEPT combined with proton decoupling and the ERETIC reference standard technique can be easily extended to other muscle metabolites of interest.