State-of-the-art magnetic resonance imaging uses hyperpolarized molecules to track metabolism in vivo, but large superconducting magnets are required, and the strong magnetic fields largely preclude measurement in the presence of conductive materials and magnify problems of magnetic susceptibility inhomogeneity. Operating at zero and low field circumvents these limitations, but until now has not been possible due to limited sensitivity. We show that zero- and low-field nuclear magnetic resonance can be used for probing two important metabolic reactions: the conversion of hyperpolarized fumarate to malate and pyruvate to lactate. This work paves the way to a heretofore unexplored class of biomedical imaging applications.
@article{arxiv.2205.12380,
title = {Metabolic Reactions Studied by Zero- and Low-Field Nuclear Magnetic Resonance},
author = {James Eills and Román Picazo-Frutos and Oksana Bondar and Eleonora Cavallari and Carla Carrera and Sylwia J. Barker and Marcel Utz and Silvio Aime and Francesca Reineri and Dmitry Budker and John W. Blanchard},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2205.12380},
year = {2022}
}