Impurities of [1-13C]Pyruvic Acid and a Method to Minimize Their Signals for Hyperpolarized Pyruvate Metabolism Studies

Abstract

Impurities are a necessary evil when working with hyperpolarized [1-¹³C]pyruvate for real-time metabolic studies. We show that the impurities’ spectrum persists throughout the detection window as these signals show a long T₁. At the same time, the impurities’ spectrum is unpredictable and partly susceptible to minute pH changes in the microenvironment such that impurities’ signals may overlap with hyperpolarized metabolite signals. We show a method to eliminate the hyperpolarized impurities’ signals while maintaining sufficient hyperpolarized [1-¹³C]pyruvate signal for metabolic studies.