Evaluating glycogen signal contamination in muscle by (13)C MRS of the liver

To evaluate the contamination of glycogen signal synthesized in skeletal muscle by that in the liver, long-term monitoring of over 7 h of in vivo [1-(13)C] glycogen synthesis/degradation at the right abdomen and left shoulder was achieved using a 3.0-T clinical MR system. (13)C MR spectra without localization were obtained from five healthy volunteers before and after oral administration of 85 g of d-glucose, including 10 g of 99% [1-(13)C] glucose. In all volunteers, the relative signal intensities at the abdomen to those at shoulder were about two- to fivefold, and those of time-course changes at the abdomen and shoulder were dissimilar. It is considered that the quantity of muscle-synthesized glycogen signal at the abdomen is less than that at the shoulder because of the lesser muscle volume at the abdomen, and it may be less affected for evaluating glycogen synthesis/degradation in the liver even without localization pulses.