Studies of Cerebral Metabolism with ¹³C-Labeled Compounds―in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo Approaches―

Abstract

In the last 40 years ¹³C-nuclear magnetic resonance(¹³C-NMR) spectroscopy has been used as the method for measuring brain metabolism with ¹³C-compound in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo. The hypothesis that metabolic trafficking between neurons and astrocytes exists in the brain has been supported by the researches using that method. It has been revealed by using non-invasive ¹³C-MRS method that metabolic trafficking is altered in neurological and psychiatric disease.