Deuterium Magnetic Resonance Imaging and the Discrimination of Fetoplacental Metabolism in Normal and L-NAME-Induced Preeclamptic Mice

Recent magnetic resonance studies in healthy and cancerous organs have concluded that deuterated metabolites possess highly desirable properties for mapping non-invasively and, as they happen, characterizing glycolysis and other biochemical processes in animals and humans. A promising avenue of this deuterium metabolic imaging (DMI) approach involves looking at the fate of externally administered H-2(6,6 ')-glucose, as it is taken up and metabolized into different products as a function of time. This study employs deuterium magnetic resonance to follow the metabolism of wildtype and preeclamptic pregnant mice models, focusing on maternal and fetoplacental organs over approximate to 2 h post-injection. H-2(6,6 ')-glucose uptake was observed in the placenta and in specific downstream organs such as the fetal heart and liver. Main metabolic products included H-2(3,3 ')-lactate and H-2-water, which were produced in individual fetoplacental organs with distinct time traces. Glucose uptake in the organs of most preeclamptic animals appeared more elevated than in the control mice (p = 0.02); also higher was the production of H-2-water arising from this glucose. However, the most notable differences arose in the H-2(3,3 ')-lactate concentration, which was ca. two-fold more abundant in the placenta (p = 0.005) and in the fetal (p = 0.01) organs of preeclamptic-like animals, than in control mice. This is consistent with literature reports about hypoxic conditions arising in preeclamptic and growth-restricted pregnancies, which could lead to an enhancement in anaerobic glycolysis. Overall, the present measurements suggest that DMI, a minimally invasive approach, may offer new ways of studying and characterizing health and disease in mammalian pregnancies, including humans.

Automated summary

Recent magnetic resonance studies have shown that deuterated metabolites have desirable properties for non-invasively mapping biochemical processes. Using deuterium metabolic imaging, researchers found differences in glucose uptake and metabolic products in preeclamptic mouse models compared to controls, suggesting potential implications for anaerobic glycolysis under hypoxic conditions during pregnancy.