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Measuring Extracellular pH in a Lung Fibrosis Model with acidoCEST MRI

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Abstract

Purpose

A feed-forward loop involving lactic acid production may potentially occur during the formation of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. To provide evidence for this feed-forward loop, we used acidoCEST MRI to measure the extracellular pH (pHe), while also measuring percent uptake of the contrast agent, lesion size, and the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC).

Procedures

We developed a respiration-gated version of acidoCEST MRI to improve the measurement of pHe and percent uptake in lesions. We also used T2-weighted MRI to measure lesion volumes and diffusion-weighted MRI to measure ADC.

Results

The longitudinal changes in average pHe and % uptake of the contrast agent were inversely related to reduction in lung lesion volume. The average ADC did not change during the time frame of the study.

Conclusions

The increase in pHe during the reduction in lesion volume indicates a role for lactic acid in the proposed feed-forward loop of IPF

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Acknowledgments

This research is supported by the Better Than Ever Program, R01CA167183-01 and P50 CA95060. KMJ acknowledges support from the NIH Cardiovascular Training Grant T32HL007955 and T32HL066988 and the Parker B. Francis Foundation (RMK).

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biomedical Engineering Graduate Interdisciplinary Program, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Kyle M. Jones & Mark D. Pagel

  2. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Edward A. Randtke & Mark D. Pagel

  3. Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Christine M. Howison, Julio Cárdenas-Rodríguez & Mark D. Pagel

  4. Department of Medicine, Pulmonary Diseases and Critical Care, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA

    Patricia J. Sime & Matthew R. Kottmann

  5. University of Arizona Cancer Center, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Mark D. Pagel

Authors
  1. Kyle M. Jones
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  2. Edward A. Randtke
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  3. Christine M. Howison
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  4. Julio Cárdenas-Rodríguez
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  5. Patricia J. Sime
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  6. Matthew R. Kottmann
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  7. Mark D. Pagel
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mark D. Pagel.

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Jones, K.M., Randtke, E.A., Howison, C.M. et al. Measuring Extracellular pH in a Lung Fibrosis Model with acidoCEST MRI. Mol Imaging Biol 17, 177–184 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11307-014-0784-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11307-014-0784-6

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