Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 28, 2026
Assessment of Cardiac Function and Energetics in Isolated Mouse Hearts Using 31P NMR Spectroscopy
Published on: August 31, 2010
Objective and noninvasive metabolic characterization of donor hearts by phosphorous-31 magnetic resonance
Frank Kober1, Thierry Caus, Alberto Riberi
1Centre de Resonance Magnetique Biologique et Medicale, Faculte de Medecine, Marseille, France. frank.kober@medecine.univ-mrs.fr.
Objective:
The authors performed a multi-institutional, prospective, blind study on hearts from local donors to validate the feasibility and accuracy of the metabolic evaluation of human hearts by phosphorus-31 ( P) magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) before transplantation.
Methods:
Twenty-one hearts were separated into two groups according to a transplantation score (TS) on the basis of the current clinical and echocardiographic evaluation as follows: TS1 (n=7), grafts for United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) 1 patients only; and TS2 (n=14), grafts suitable for UNOS 2 patients. All hearts were cold preserved with Celsior and underwent ex situ P MRS to measure ratios of various high-energy phosphate metabolites and the intracellular pH (pHi).
Results:
The total duration of the MRS procedure was 32 min, thereby not unacceptably increasing the total ischemic time for the transplanted grafts. Phosphocreatine (PCr) and inorganic phosphate (Pi ) was significantly different between the two groups (0.95+/-0.29 for TS1 and 2.05+/-0.74 for TS2). The difference in pHi was also significant (7.44+/-0.13 for TS1 and 7.64+/-0.19 for TS2).
Conclusions:
Determination of PCr-Pi and pHi as markers of ischemic injury before transplantation can be considered as an objective and accurate criterion for the decision to accept or refuse heart grafts for transplantation.
