title: Hyperpolarization of 13C through order transfer from parahydrogen: a new contrast agent for MRI.
abstract: The order within proton pairs in organic molecules, resulting from hydrogenation with parahydrogen, can be transferred in great part to nearby carbon 13 spins through adequate field manipulations. The molecules with hyperpolarized 13C thus obtained can be used as new contrast agents of high efficiency in MRI. After a brief presentation of the hydrogenation process and apparatus, in relatively low magnetic field, we describe the procedure of order transfer to the 13C spins through a sudden drop from the initial field to zero field followed by an adiabatic remagnetization. The expected final polarizations in the absence of relaxation are given for several compounds. Finally, we show an example of MR images observed in vivo on animals as an illustration of the contrast capacity of this new method.
authors.affiliation: GE Healthcare Bio-Sciences, Medeon, 205 12 Malmö, Sweden. m.goldman@wanadoo.fr
authors.forename: Maurice
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Goldman
authors.forename: Haukur
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jóhannesson
authors.forename: Oskar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Axelsson
authors.forename: Magnus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Karlsson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002247:Carbon Isotopes; D003287:Contrast Media; D006168:Guinea Pigs; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging
chemical_list: D002247:Carbon Isotopes; D003287:Contrast Media