Diffusion-weighted NMR spectroscopy allows probing of 13C labeling of glutamate inside distinct metabolic compartments in the brain

Abstract

In the present work, diffusion-weighted (DW)-NMR spectroscopy of glutamate was performed during a (13)C-labeled glucose infusion in monkey brain (six experiments). It is shown that glutamate (13)C labeling occurs significantly faster at higher diffusion weightings-slightly for glutamate in position C4, and more markedly for glutamate in position C3. This demonstrates the existence of different diffusion compartments for glutamate, associated with different metabolic rates. Metabolic modeling of (13)C enrichment time-courses suggests that these compartments might be gray and white matter, each having a specific oxidative metabolism rate possibly paralleled by a specific glutamate diffusion coefficient.