In vivo characterization of brain metabolism by H MRS, C MRS and FDG PET reveals significant glucose oxidation of invasively growing glioma cells.

Glioblastoma are notorious for their highly invasive growth, diffusely infiltrating adjacent brain structures that precludes complete resection, and is a major obstacle for cure. To characterize this "invisible" tumor part, we designed a high resolution multimodal imaging approach assessing in vivo the metabolism of invasively growing glioma xenografts in the mouse brain. Animals were subjected longitudinally to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and H spectroscopy (MRS) at ultra high field (14.

In vivo C MRS in the mouse brain at 14.1 Tesla and metabolic flux quantification under infusion of [1,6-C]glucose.

In vivo C magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) enables the investigation of cerebral metabolic compartmentation while, e.g. infusing C-labeled glucose.

Progress towards in vivo brain C-MRS in mice: Metabolic flux analysis in small tissue volumes.

The combination of dynamic C MRS data under infusion of C-labelled substrates and compartmental models of cerebral metabolism enabled in vivo measurement of metabolic fluxes with a quantitative and distinct determination of cellular-specific activities. The non-invasive nature and the chemical specificity of the C dynamic data obtained in those tracer experiments makes it an attractive approach offering unique insights into cerebral metabolism. Genetically engineered mice present a wealth of disease models particularly interesting for the neuroscience community.