PRESS echo time behavior of triglyceride resonances at 1.5T: detecting omega-3 fatty acids in adipose tissue in vivo.

AIM: This study investigated the impact of fatty acid (FA) composition on the echo time behavior of triglyceride resonances in a clinical setting. The feasibility of (1)H NMR spectroscopy to detect these resonances was also evaluated in human adipose tissue in vivo.

METHOD: Ten edible oils chosen to cover a wide spectrum of FA compositions were used as phantom material. The detailed FA composition and intrinsic proton spectra of the oils were characterized by gas chromatography and high-resolution (1)H NMR spectroscopy (11.7T), respectively. The detailed echo time behavior of the oils were subsequently measured by (1)H NMR spectroscopy in a clinical scanner (1.5T) using PRESS. The effect of temperature was investigated in five oils.

RESULTS: The olefinic (5.3 ppm) and diallylic (2.8 ppm) resonances exhibited distinct J-modulation patterns independent of oil FA composition. The methylene resonance (1.3 ppm) displayed an exponential decay, with the apparent T(2) showing a weak positive correlation with oil unsaturation (R=0.628, P=0.052), probably a result of changes in viscosity. For the methyl resonance (0.9 ppm), oils high in omega-3 FA displayed a markedly different J-modulation pattern compared to non-omega-3 oils. The characteristic J-modulation of the omega-3 methyl group could be attributed to the phase behavior of the omega-3 methyl triplet signal (all triplet lines in-phase at TE of 135 ms), a result of the omega-3 methyl end forming a first order spin system. The omega-3 methyl outer triplet line at 1.08ppm of the TE=140 ms spectrum was found to be useful for determining the omega-3 content of the oils (R=0.999, standard error of estimate (SE) 0.80). The olefinic and diallylic proton resonance (measured at TE=50 ms) areas correlated with the olefinic (R=0.993, SE 0.33) and diallylic (R=0.997, SE 0.19) proton contents calculated from the GC data. Information derived from long echo time spectra (TE=200) demonstrated good correlations to GC data and showed no change with increasing temperature (and T(2)). In (1)H NMR spectra (1.5T) of adipose tissue in five healthy subjects, the analytically important olefinic and diallylic resonances were clearly resolved with a coefficient of variation of 1.6% and 8.4%, respectively, for repeated measurements. The characteristic phase behavior of the omega-3 methyl outer triplet line at 1.08 ppm could also be detected at very long echo times (470 and 540 ms).

CONCLUSION: Fatty acid composition has an impact on the echo time behavior of triglyceride resonances. Long TE spectra can resolve omega-3 FA in adipose tissue in vivo. These findings will benefit long TE studies of tissue lipids.