In vivo imaging of phosphocreatine with artificial neural networks.

Journal: Nature communications
PMID:

Abstract

Phosphocreatine (PCr) plays a vital role in neuron and myocyte energy homeostasis. Currently, there are no routine diagnostic tests to noninvasively map PCr distribution with clinically relevant spatial resolution and scan time. Here, we demonstrate that artificial neural network-based chemical exchange saturation transfer (ANNCEST) can be used to rapidly quantify PCr concentration with robust immunity to commonly seen MRI interferences. High-quality PCr mapping of human skeletal muscle, as well as the information of exchange rate, magnetic field and radio-frequency transmission inhomogeneities, can be obtained within 1.5 min on a 3 T standard MRI scanner using ANNCEST. For further validation, we apply ANNCEST to measure the PCr concentrations in exercised skeletal muscle. The ANNCEST outcomes strongly correlate with those from P magnetic resonance spectroscopy (R = 0.813, p < 0.001, t test). These results suggest that ANNCEST has potential as a cost-effective and widely available method for measuring PCr and diagnosing related diseases.

Authors

  • Lin Chen
    College of Sports, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing, China.
  • Michael Schär
    Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
  • Kannie W Y Chan
    Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
  • Jianpan Huang
    Department of Biomedical Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
  • Zhiliang Wei
    F.M. Kirby Research Center for Functional Brain Imaging, Kennedy Krieger Research Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA.
  • Hanzhang Lu
    The Russell H. Morgan, Department of Radiology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland.
  • Qin Qin
    Department of Bioengineering, Institute of Engineering in Medicine, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA, United States.
  • Robert G Weiss
    Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
  • Peter C M van Zijl
    Department of Radiology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA; F.M. Kirby Research Center for Functional Brain Imaging, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
  • Jiadi Xu
    F.M. Kirby Research Center for Functional Brain Imaging, Kennedy Krieger Research Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA. xuj@kennedykrieger.org.