T1 relaxation times at 3T for proton and deuterium-labelled 13C-substrates (n = 3, ± s.d., p < 0.02). Due to very low polarization for commercial non-deuterium labeled [2–13C]alanine, [2–13C]serine and [2–13C]lactate, T1 could not be evaluated using hyperpolarized methods, and inversion-recovery was used at 11.7T: T1 = 4.9 s, 3.6 s and 7.2 s, respectively.