Rapid In Vivo Quantification of Creatine Kinase Activity by Phosphorous-31 Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopic Fingerprinting (31P-MRSF).

Abstract

Creatine kinase (CK) plays an important role in tissue metabolism by providing a buffering mechanism for maintaining a constant supply of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) during metabolic perturbations. Phosphorous-31 magnetic resonance spectroscopy (31P-MRS) employing magnetization transfer techniques is the only noninvasive method for measuring the rate of ATP synthesis via creatine kinase. However, due to the low concentrations of phosphate metabolites, current 31P-MRS methods require long acquisition time to achieve adequate measurement accuracy. In this chapter, we present a new framework of data acquisition and parameter estimation, the 31P magnetic resonancespectroscopic fingerprinting (31P-MRSF) method, for rapid quantification of CK reaction rate constant in the hindlimb of small laboratory animals.