Carbon-13 Spectroscopy of Non-human Primate

In vivo ¹³C magnetic resonance spectroscopy is a powerful method for measuring the metabolism and neurotransmission of living brain. Because of its unique chemical specificity, ¹³C MRS allows detection and quantification of metabolic intermediates which would be difficult to be measured using radiochemical methods. The MRS core has developed non-localized (NOE and proton decoupling) and localized (polarization transfer and proton decoupling) ¹³C spectroscopy methods to measure the ¹³C spectra of rhesus monkey brains with or without infusion of ¹³C labeled glucose, acetate or other substances. The methods have been implemented on a 4.7 T 30-cm horizontal bore magnet. These ¹³C MRS tools can be used to measurement turnover kinetics of glucose, glutamate, glutamine and aspartate with infusion of ¹³C labeled substances and the effect after pharmaceutical treatments.