Molecular Imaging of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Using an Endogenous Hyperpolarized Redox Sensor

Kayvan R. Keshari¹, Andrew Taylor¹, Zhen Jane Wang¹, John Kurhanewicz¹, Daniel B. Vigneron¹, David M. Wilson¹

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is recognized as the most prevalent liver abnormality in the United States. Although changes in redox have been implicated in the onset and progression of NAFLD, methods to image this disease are limited. In recent work, hyperpolarized [1-13C] dehydroascorbate (DHA), which is rapidly converted to Vitamin C in vivo, has been identified as an endogenous redox sensor for non-invasive MR imaging. In this study, we demonstrate the use of HP [1-13C] DHA to image redox changes in a standard model of NAFLD and correlate these findings with standard 1H imaging and histopathology.