Exchange narrowing of magnetic resonance linewidths in inhomogeneous ferromagnets

Much progress in nuclear magnetic resonance microscope has been made in the last few years as a result of improved instrumentation and techniques being made available through basic research in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technologies for medicine. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) was first observed in the hydrogen nucleus in water by Bloch, Purcell and Pound over 40 years ago. Today, in medicine, virtually all commercial MRI scans are made of water bound in tissue. This is also true for NMR microscopy, which has focussed mainly on biological applications. The reason water is the favored molecule for NMR is because water is,the most abundant molecule in biology. It is also the most NMR sensitive having the largest nuclear magnetic moment and having reasonable room temperature relaxation times (from 10 ms to 3 sec). The contrast seen in magnetic resonance images is due mostly to distribution of water relaxation times in sample which are extremely sensitive to the local environment.

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Functional information from magnetic resonance imaging

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100136799 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 53 ◽

pp. 84-85

Author(s):

Alan P. Koretsky ◽

Afonso Costa e Silva ◽

Yi-Jen Lin

Keyword(s):

Magnetic Resonance Imaging ◽

Magnetic Resonance ◽

High Resolution ◽

Cancer Biology ◽

Imaging Modality ◽

Magnetic Resonance Images ◽

Great Success ◽

Functional Information ◽

Resonance Imaging ◽

High Resolution Mri

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has become established as an important imaging modality for the clinical management of disease. This is primarily due to the great tissue contrast inherent in magnetic resonance images of normal and diseased organs. Due to the wide availability of high field magnets and the ability to generate large and rapidly switched magnetic field gradients there is growing interest in applying high resolution MRI to obtain microscopic information. This symposium on MRI microscopy highlights new developments that are leading to increased resolution. The application of high resolution MRI to significant problems in developmental biology and cancer biology will illustrate the potential of these techniques.In combination with a growing interest in obtaining high resolution MRI there is also a growing interest in obtaining functional information from MRI. The great success of MRI in clinical applications is due to the inherent contrast obtained from different tissues leading to anatomical information.

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Spectroscopic imaging of human disease

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100166889 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 54 ◽

pp. 884-885

Author(s):

D.J. Meyerhoff

Keyword(s):

Magnetic Field ◽

Magnetic Resonance ◽

Field Gradient ◽

Human Disease ◽

Morphological Changes ◽

Magnetic Field Gradient ◽

Spectroscopic Imaging ◽

Resonance Spectroscopy ◽

Tissue Water

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) observes tissue water in the presence of a magnetic field gradient to study morphological changes such as tissue volume loss and signal hyperintensities in human disease. These changes are mostly non-specific and do not appear to be correlated with the range of severity of a certain disease. In contrast, Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS), which measures many different chemicals and tissue metabolites in the millimolar concentration range in the absence of a magnetic field gradient, has been shown to reveal characteristic metabolite patterns which are often correlated with the severity of a disease. In-vivo MRS studies are performed on widely available MRI scanners without any “sample preparation” or invasive procedures and are therefore widely used in clinical research. Hydrogen (H) MRS and MR Spectroscopic Imaging (MRSI, conceptionally a combination of MRI and MRS) measure N-acetylaspartate (a putative marker of neurons), creatine-containing metabolites (involved in energy processes in the cell), choline-containing metabolites (involved in membrane metabolism and, possibly, inflammatory processes),

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Nuclear magnetic resonance microscopy

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100156110 ◽

1989 ◽

Vol 47 ◽

pp. 828-829

Author(s):

Paul C. Lauterbur

Keyword(s):

Magnetic Field ◽

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance ◽

Magnetic Resonance ◽

Magnetic Fields ◽

Signal To Noise ◽

Field Gradients ◽

Useful Signal ◽

Magnetic Field Gradients ◽

Observation Times ◽

Nuclear Magnetic

Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging can reach microscopic resolution, as was noted many years ago, but the first serious attempt to explore the limits of the possibilities was made by Hedges. Resolution is ultimately limited under most circumstances by the signal-to-noise ratio, which is greater for small radio receiver coils, high magnetic fields and long observation times. The strongest signals in biological applications are obtained from water protons; for the usual magnetic fields used in NMR experiments (2-14 tesla), receiver coils of one to several millimeters in diameter, and observation times of a number of minutes, the volume resolution will be limited to a few hundred or thousand cubic micrometers. The proportions of voxels may be freely chosen within wide limits by varying the details of the imaging procedure. For isotropic resolution, therefore, objects of the order of (10μm) may be distinguished.Because the spatial coordinates are encoded by magnetic field gradients, the NMR resonance frequency differences, which determine the potential spatial resolution, may be made very large. As noted above, however, the corresponding volumes may become too small to give useful signal-to-noise ratios. In the presence of magnetic field gradients there will also be a loss of signal strength and resolution because molecular diffusion causes the coherence of the NMR signal to decay more rapidly than it otherwise would. This phenomenon is especially important in microscopic imaging.

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