Eva M. Serrao1,
Tiago B. Rodrigues1, Mikko I. Kettunen1, Ferdia A.
Gallagher1, Brett Kennedy2, De-En Hu3, Keith
Burling4, Joan Boren1, Helen Sladen1, Kevin
M. Brindle3
1Cambridge
Research Institute CRUK, Cambridge, United Kingdom; 2Biochemistry,
Cambridge University, Cambridge, United Kingdom; 3University of
Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom; 4Clinical Biochemistry,
Addenbrooks Hospital, Cambridge, United Kingdom
Hyperpolarized [1-13C]pyruvate has shown great promise for clinical oncology, particularly in the assessment of early response to treatment, and has also been the only hyperpolarized substrate to be used in humans. Determination of its reproducibility as a probe and the factors that affect reproducibility are important in order to understand if changes in its metabolism reflect real effects of therapy or changes in mouse physiology. We show that hyperpolarized[1-13C]pyruvate is a reproducible probe, showing relatively little variability when injected into fasted mice, suggesting that the fasted state may be more optimal for performing this technique in humans.