We are requesting funds to purchase a Bruker Biospec 7 Tesla, 15- cm horizontal bore NMR spectrometer. The instrument will be used to extend and expand our current research efforts into amino acid chemistry and pathology in the brain, interactions between ion transport, carbohydrate and amino acid metabolism in the kidney, and carbohydrate metabolism in the liver. These studies will make use of new and verified multipulse lH and 13C spectroscopic techniques developed in our laboratory for this purpose. The application of these methods to the metabolic research problems contained in this proposal will lead to further improvements in pulse sequence design and quantitative accuracy. The new 7 T magnet/system has full imaging capability and will provide both a high field strength and a large homogeneous volume in a horizontal orientation--permitting us to expand our current work to investigations of regional metabolism in larger animals in vivo. The use of these techniques to study complex metabolic problems on carefully controlled and unstressed animal models, under condition of optimal sensitivity and resolution, will define the potential scope for human investigations.
