Hyperpolarized Diffusion Weighted Carbon-13 MR

Bertram L. Koelsch¹, Kayvan R. Keshari², Renuka Sriram², Daniel B. Vigneron, ¹², John Kurhanewicz, ¹²

Most diffusion weighted imaging and spectroscopy studies observe proton since carbon-13 is limited by low SNR, resulting from the nucleis low gamma and its low natural abundance. We take advantage of the signal enhancement achieved with dissolution DNP and molecular motion to acquire diffusion weighted spectra of hyperpolarized carbon-13. The apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) measured for thermally polarized 13C urea was similar to that measured by hyperpolarized 13C urea. In comparing thermally polarized and hyperpolarized 13C urea diffusion we show the feasibility of using hyperpolarized diffusion weighted spectroscopy in future bioreactor and animal studies to quantify transport and enzyme kinetics.