Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy Techniques for Measuring Oncologically Relevant Metabolites in Mouse Brain at 9.4 T

该研究计划的目标是开发技术，以便能够在9.4T下使用质子磁共振波谱(MRS)的非侵入性方法改进对一些相关大脑代谢物的检测。最先进的高场9.4TMRS动物扫描仪在北美的研究实验室中变得越来越常见。强磁场的优点是可以获得较高的信噪比和光谱分辨率。9.4T扫描仪已被用于研究疾病的动物模型，并已成为临床前研究的重要工具。然而，由于光谱分辨率低和浓度低，很难对一些相关的大脑代谢物进行准确的测量。我们设计的技术将能够更准确地定量谷氨酸、谷氨酰胺、谷胱甘肽、甘氨酸、乳酸和丙氨酸。所有提到的代谢物都与许多神经退行性疾病、精神障碍和癌症的研究有关。我们的长期目标是使用我们开发的方法来研究放射治疗对这种疾病的小鼠模型的脑瘤代谢。我们希望我们的研究能提高我们对肿瘤新陈代谢的理解。我们设计的技术将帮助加拿大的其他9.4T MRS研究小组测量列出的难以检测的代谢物，并了解更多涉及不同大脑疾病的生化机制。

The objective of the research program is to develop techniques to enable the improved detection of some relevant brain metabolites using the non-invasive method of proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) at 9.4 T. State of the art high field 9.4 T MRS animal scanners are becoming more common in research laboratories across North America. The advantage of the strong magnetic field strength is the higher signal to noise ratio and spectral resolution attainable with it. 9.4 T scanners have been employed to study animal models of disease and have become an important tool for preclinical research. However, it is difficult to make accurate measurements of some relevant brain metabolites due to poor spectral resolution and low concentrations. The techniques we design we will enable more accurate quantification of glutamate, glutamine, glutathione, glycine, lactate, and alanine. All the mentioned metabolites are relevant in the study of many neurodegenerative diseases, psychiatric disorders and cancer. Our long term goals are to use our developed methods to study brain tumour metabolism in mouse models of the disease in response to radiation treatment. We expect our research to improve our understanding of tumour metabolism. The techniques we design will aid other 9.4 T MRS research groups in Canada to measure the listed difficult to detect metabolites and to learn more about biochemical mechanisms involved in different brain disorders.