Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of ¹³C nuclei holds the potential to probe pathology at a molecular level. These pathological changes often times precede or occur in the absence of changes in anatomy and can therefore provide valuable insight into the treatment of malignant diseases. Unfortunately, signal from endogenous 13C is indistinguishable from noise due to low receptivity, sub millimolar in-vivo concentrations, and scan time limitations.

Recent advances now allow for >10,000 fold signal enhancement of ¹³C nuclei via a technique referred to as dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP), enabling the use of 13C labeled molecules to probe metabolic function non- invasively and in real-time. Nevertheless, MR imaging of hyperpolarized ¹³C compounds is more challenging than conventional ¹H MRI, due in large part to the nature of the hyperpolarized magnetization and the need to generate images of both the substrate and the metabolic products. In this talk we will discuss the principles of hyperpolarization, the basics of MRI with hyperpolarized ¹³C compounds, and some of the applications of this new and exciting technique.