An INEPT-based 13 C MRS method and a cost-effective and widely available 11.7Tesla 89-mm bore vertical magnet were used to detect dynamic 13 C isotopomer turnover from intravenously infused [U– 13 C]glucose in a 211μL voxel located in the adult rat brain. The INEPT-based 1 H→ 13 C polarization transfer method is mostly adiabatic and therefore minimizes signal loss due to B 1 inhomogeneity of the surface coils used. High quality and reproducible data were acquired as a result of combined use of outer volume suppression, ISIS, and the single-shot three-dimensional localization scheme built in the INEPT pulse sequence. Isotopomer patterns of both glutamate C4 at 34.00ppm and glutamine C4 at 31.38ppm are dominated first by a doublet originated from labeling at C4 and C5 but not at C3 (with 1 J C4C5 =51Hz) and then by a quartet originated from labeling at C3, C4, and C5 (with 1 J C3C4 =35Hz). A lag in the transition of glutamine C4 pattern from doublet-dominance to quartet dominance as compared to glutamate C4 was observed, which provides an independent verification of the precursor–product relationship between neuronal glutamate and glial glutamine and a significant intercompartmental cerebral glutamate–glutamine cycle between neurons and glial cells.