Estimation of Metabolite Signals for In Vitro MRI of Glycolytic Flow in Hyperpolarized Carbon-13

Downstream metabolites may have a poor SNR in hyperpolarized carbon-13 MRI, generating apparent exchange rate constant discrepancies when studying glycolytic flow in vivo or in vitro dynamically in real-time. We developed a method for estimating metabolite signal. This approach estimates metabolite signals using kinetic modeling and noise. The process was evaluated using simulations and in vitro studies. In vitro findings were also compared to 13C NMR cell media AUC. Comparing in vitro data from our method and NMR, both demonstrated consistency when uncertainty was included, suggesting that our method can accurately quantify metabolite signals and indicate how glycolytic flow changes.