Heterogeneity of regional cerebral glucose metabolism demonstrated in situ in rat brain by 19F NMR rotating frame zeugmatography: one dimensional chemical shift imaging of normal and gliosarcoma implanted brain.

Using 19-fluorine (19F) as nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) signal probe and 2-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-FDG) as metabolic probe, one dimensional "imaging" (metabolite mapping) of pathway specific glucose metabolism in the pentose monophosphate shunt (PMS) and aldose reductase sorbitol (ARS) pathways were performed in situ in rat brain utilizing one dimensional rotating frame zeugmatography. Normal brain showed highest PMS activities in the brainstem consonant with known spatially heterogeneous concentration of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, the rate limiting enzyme for the PMS. The brain harboring sufficiently large gliosarcoma in the cerebrum showed a higher PMS/ARS area ratio indicating higher PMS activities in tumor which was localized by zeugmatography. The present study demonstrated the feasibility of studying regional glucose metabolism in the PMS and ARS utilizing 2-FDG.