Hyperpolarization (HP) of a carbon-13 molecule via dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) involves polarization at low temperature, followed by a dissolution procedure producing a solution with highly polarized spins at room temperature. This dissolution DNP method significantly increases the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) over 10,000-fold and facilitates the use of magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) to image not only metabolism but also the extracellular microenvironment. The extracellular tumor microenvironment (TME) closely interacts with tumor cells and stimulates their growth and metastasis. Thus, the ability to detect pathological changes in the TME is pivotal for the detection and study of cancers. This review highlights the potential use of MRS to study features of the TME—elevated export of lactate, reduced interstitial pH, imbalanced redox equilibrium, and altered metal homeostasis. The promising outcomes of both in vitro and in vivo assays suggest that DNP-MRS may be a useful technique to study aspects of the TME. With continued improvements, this tool has the potential to study the TME and provide guidance for accurate patient stratification and precise personal therapy.

通过动态核极化 (DNP) 对碳 13 分子进行超极化 (HP) 涉及低温极化，然后是溶解过程，在室温下产生具有高度极化自旋的溶液。这种溶解 DNP 方法显着提高了核磁共振 (NMR) 的信噪比 (SNR) 超过 10,000 倍，并有助于使用磁共振波谱 (MRS) 来成像代谢和细胞外微环境。细胞外肿瘤微环境（TME）与肿瘤细胞密切相互作用并刺激其生长和转移。因此，检测 TME 病理变化的能力对于癌症的检测和研究至关重要。这篇综述强调了 MRS 研究 TME 特征的潜在用途——乳酸输出增加，间质 pH 值降低、氧化还原平衡失衡和金属稳态改变。两者都有希望的结果体外和体内试验表明，DNP-MRS 可能是研究 TME 各个方面的有用技术。随着不断改进，该工具有可能研究 TME 并为准确的患者分层和精确的个人治疗提供指导。