Figure 1.

(a) Schematic showing pyruvate metabolism inside a cell. The [1-13C] pyruvate can be converted to 13C-lactate, 13C-alanine, and 13C-bicarbonate in the presence of enzymes lactate dehydrogenase-A (LDHA), alanine transferase (ALT), and pyruvate decarboxylase, respectively. (b) Downstream products of pyruvate metabolism such as lactate and alanine can be imaged using hyperpolarized magnetic resonance. A 3D, real-time readout of the signals, as shown here, can be created using standard software such as Chenomx.