Although ¹⁹F has high potential to serve as a background-free molecular marker in bioimaging, the molar amount of marker substance is often too small to enable ¹⁹F MR imaging or ¹⁹F NMR spectroscopy with a sufficiently high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Hyperpolarization methods such as parahydrogen-based hyperpolarization or dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) can significantly improve the SNR, but require expensive and complex sample preparation and the removal of toxic catalysts and solvents. Therefore, we used the biologically compatible model of the fluorinated amino acid 3-Fluoro-DL-tyrosine with riboflavin 5ʹ-monophosphate (FMN) as a chromophore dissolved in D₂O with 3.4% H₂O_dest., allowing to transform light energy into hyperpolarization of the ¹⁹F nucleus via photo-chemically induced dynamic nuclear polarization (photo-CIDNP). We used a low-cost high-power blue LED to illuminate the sample replacing traditionally used laser excitation, which is both potentially harmful and costly. For the first time, we present results of hyperpolarized ¹⁹F MRI and ¹⁹F NMR performed with a low-cost 0.6 T benchtop MRI system. The device allowed simultaneous dual-channel ¹H/¹⁹F NMR. ¹⁹F imaging was performed with a (0.94 mm)² in-plane resolution. This enabled the spatial resolution of different degrees of hyperpolarization within the sample. We estimated the photo-CIDNP-based ¹⁹F signal enhancement at 0.6 T to be approximately 465. FMN did not bleach out even after multiple excitations, so that the signal-to-noise ratio could be further improved by averaging hyperpolarized signals. The results show that the easy-to-use experimental setup has a high potential to serve as an efficient preclinical tool for hyperpolarization studies in bioimaging.

尽管¹⁹ F 在生物成像中作为无背景分子标记物具有很高的潜力，但标记物质的摩尔量通常太小而无法实现具有足够高信噪比的¹⁹ F MR 成像或¹⁹ F NMR 光谱。信噪比）。超极化方法，如基于副氢的超极化或动态核极化 (DNP) 可以显着提高 SNR，但需要昂贵且复杂的样品制备以及去除有毒催化剂和溶剂。因此，我们使用了氟化氨基酸 3-氟代-DL-酪氨酸与核黄素 5′-单磷酸 (FMN) 作为生色团溶解在 D ₂ O 中的生物相容模型，其中含有 3.4% H ₂ O _dest。，允许通过光化学诱导的动态核极化（photo-CIDNP）将光能转化为^{19 F核的超极化。}我们使用低成本的大功率蓝色 LED 来照亮样品，取代了传统使用的激光激发，这既可能有害又昂贵。我们首次展示了使用低成本 0.6 T 台式 MRI 系统进行的超极化¹⁹ F MRI 和^{19 F NMR 的结果。}该装置允许同时双通道¹ H/ ¹⁹ F NMR。使用 (0.94 mm) ^{2进行19 F 成像}平面内分辨率。这使得样品内不同程度的超极化的空间分辨率成为可能。我们估计在 0.6 T 时基于 photo-CIDNP 的¹⁹ F 信号增强约为 465。即使在多次激发后 FMN 也不会漂白，因此通过平均超极化信号可以进一步提高信噪比。结果表明，易于使用的实验装置具有很高的潜力，可作为生物成像中超极化研究的有效临床前工具。