Feasibility of co-polarizing ¹³C-pyruvate and ¹³C-tert-butanol for simultaneous metabolic and perfusion imaging

Altered metabolism and perfusion are hallmarks of numerous diseases, yet simultaneous evaluations in vivo remain limited. We present a dual-purpose hyperpolarized probe combining [1-¹³C]pyruvate and ¹³C-tert-butyl alcohol (¹³C-TBA) for concurrent metabolic and perfusion imaging. An optimized formulation produced high polarizations with short build-up times. In vivo imaging in healthy and tumor-bearing rats demonstrated robust signals of TBA and pyruvate metabolism. This co-polarized dual probe offers strong preclinical and translational potential.