H MRS detected mobile lipids in rodent gliomas: correlation with EPR determined tumour oxygenation

Introduction Resonances arising from mobile lipids in brain tumour H MR spectra bear multiple potential biomarker functions. Saturated lipid peaks have been associated with high degree of malignancy both in animal [1] and human [2, 3] brain tumours. The MR Spectroscopy (MRS) lipids are correlated with necrotic histopathology, a hallmark of high degree of malignancy [4]. In contrast to saturated lipids, polyunsaturared lipids in brain tumour H MR spectrum have been shown to appear in response to successful cytotoxic therapy [1]. Here we have determined oxygen tension in two rat glioma models by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and used single-voxel MRS and MRS imaging (MRSI) to estimate H MRS detectable lipids in these tumours.