# Phosphorus-31 MR Spectroscopic Imaging and Fingerprinting

> **NIH NIH R01** · CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $459,155

## Abstract

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a prevalent disease affecting a large population worldwide. Emerging
evidence suggests that impaired muscle metabolism plays a major role in the pathogenesis of T2D.
Normalizing mitochondrial function has be proposed as an effective therapeutic target for T2D.
Phophorus-31 (31P) magnetic resonance spectroscopy and imaging (MRS/I) methods provide a powerful
tool to interrogate various aspects of tissue metabolism. Specifically, 31P MRS can directly monitor
changes in phosphate metabolite concentrations during physiological and pathological processes such
as exercise and ischemia/reperfusion. Furthermore, magnetization-transfer (MT) methods allows
noninvasive quantification of metabolic activities that no other methods are capable of. These methods
have the potential to be translated to clinical use that will permit noninvasive evaluation of tissue
metabolism that is indicative of disease progression and therapeutic efficacy. However, because of the
low concentrations of phosphate metabolites, current 31P MRS/I methods require prohibitively long
acquisition time, which is not practical for routine clinical use. Consequently, most 31P MRS studies have
employed either non-localized or single voxel techniques, rendering the assessment of metabolic
heterogeneity impossible.
 Recent development in sparse sampling theory and subspace imaging have demonstrated potential
by significantly reducing acquisition time for proton (1H) MRSI. Furthermore, the innovation brought forth
by magnetic resonance fingerprinting (MRF) has been shown to drastically accelerate the mapping of 1H
relaxation times in the brain. Based on these exciting progress, we propose to translate these 1H MRSI
approaches to develop clinically feasible 31P MRS/I methods for in vivo assessment of mitochondrial
function in diabetic muscle. The objectives of the proposed project are: 1) to develop 31P spatiospectral
encoding method with sparse sampling of the (k, t)-space for highly accelerated metabolic mapping of
phosphate metabolites; 2) to develop 31P spectroscopic MT-MRF methods for efficient quantification of
ATP and PCr synthesis rates. These methods will be applied to delineate the alterations in metabolic
fluxes and mitochondrial oxidative capacity in Zucker diabetic fatty rats, a rat model of obesity and insulin
resistance. In addition, the effects of exercise training and metformin treatment, the commonly prescribed
treatment for T2D, on muscle metabolism will also be evaluated. The successful completion of this
project will pave the way for evaluating mitochondrial energetics in vivo. While the current project will
employ a rodent model of T2D for the purpose of cost-saving, the proposed 31P MRSI and MRF methods
are highly translatable to clinical scanners, which will lead to clinically feasible and relevant diagnostics,
as well as novel strategies to assess the therapeutic efficacy for a spectrum of metabolic diseases.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9975011
- **Project number:** 5R01EB023704-04
- **Recipient organization:** CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** ZHI-PEI LIANG
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $459,155
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-09-15 → 2023-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9975011

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9975011, Phosphorus-31 MR Spectroscopic Imaging and Fingerprinting (5R01EB023704-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9975011. Licensed CC0.

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