Feasibility of Mapping Intracellular NAD Content in Entire Human Brain at 7T

Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) is an important molecule critical for cellular metabolism and signaling. The cerebral NAD concentration is only at submillimolar level, and thus, difficult to measure and imaging in vivo. In this study, we utilize 3D 31P MRSI-based NAD assay in combination with a SPICE-based signal processing method to evaluate the feasibility for non-invasively mapping the NAD contents in healthy human brains at 7T. The results suggest that by taking advantage of ultrahigh field scanner and advanced post-processing, it is possible to obtain whole-brain NAD maps with NAD measurements consistent with the literature reported values.