We have recently developed an ultra-broadband instrument that can effectively excite and detect NMR and NQR signals over a wide frequency range. Our current system operates between 100 kHz and 3.2 MHz using an un-tuned sample coil. The major benefits of this instrument compared to conventional NQR/NMR systems include increased robustness, ease of use (in particular for multi-frequency experiments), and elimination of the need for tuning adjustments in the hardware.
Three-dimensional printing with high-temperature plastic is used to enable spin exchange optical pumping (SEOP) and hyperpolarization of xenon-129 gas. The use of 3D printed structures increases the simplicity of integration of the following key components with a variable temperature SEOP probe: (i) in situ NMR circuit operating at 84 kHz (Larmor frequencies of (129)Xe and (1)H nuclear spins), (ii)
Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra of complex chemical mixtures often contain unresolved or hidden spectral components, especially when strong background signals overlap weaker peaks. In this article we demonstrate a quantum filter utilizing nuclear spin singlet states, which allows undesired NMR spectral background to be removed and target spectral peaks to be uncovered.
Using a three-dimensional Fourier transform approach, proton nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) chemical shift images have been obtained in vivo for the first time. At a proton resonance frequency of 61.5 MHz, chemical shift-resolved images of simple phantoms indicate that a spectral resolution of 0.7 parts per million (ppm) is readily achievable at all locations within the image matrix, even when using a magnet not specifically designed for chemical shift spectroscopy. In vivo images of the human forearm and of a cat head yield separable signals from water and lipid protons.
Advances in magnetic resonance hardware and instrumentation have facilitated the rapid development of NMR imaging. Systems based on superconducting, resistive, and permanent magnets have been commercially introduced and are now available in a wide range of field strengths. Excellent images are now routinely obtained in fields from 0.1 to 2.0 Tesla (T). It is now clear, however, that obtaining high-quality images requires much more than a high-strength magnet.
Twenty patients in whom CT had unequivocally demonstrated the presence of calcification in a diversity of lesions and who had undergone MR, performed at 0.6 T and with standard T1- and T2-weighted pulse sequences, were retrospectively studied to determine the MR signal-intensity characteristics of the calcifications and to assess the ability of MR to detect the presence of this abnormality. CT proved superior to MR in detecting and characterizing calcification.
The need for improved specificity in the diagnosis of "occult" vascular malformations led to the use of MR in suspected cases in order to determine MR's potential for improved diagnostic accuracy. Six patients with six lesions histologically diagnosed as vascular malformation after partial (1) or complete (5) microsurgical excision were studied by CT, MR, and selective magnification subtraction angiography. In all cases, the cerebral lesions were apparently solitary and were visible as focal lesions on both CT and MR.
Chemical shift imaging combines the spatial information provided by a conventional nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) image with the chemical shift spectral information provided by NMR spectroscopy. In order to preserve the chemical shift information and provide a spatial map simultaneously, new NMR imaging methods have been developed.
P-31 nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is uniquely suited to measure the kinetics of the phosphoryl-exchange reaction catalyzed by creatine kinase in intact mammalian tissue, especially striated muscle. Recently developed transgenic mouse models of the creatine kinase iso-enzyme system open novel opportunities to assess the functional importance of the individual iso-enzymes and their relative contribution to the total in situ flux through the CK reaction. This chapter reviews the most recent findings from NMR flux measurements on such genetic models of CK function.
The kinetic properties of the cytoplasmic and the mitochondrial iso-enzymes of creatine kinase from striated muscle were studied in vitro and in vivo. The creatine kinase (CK) iso-enzyme family has a multi-faceted role in cellular energy metabolism and is characterized by a complex pattern of tissue-specific expression and subcellular distribution. In mammalian tissues, there is always co-expression of at least two different CK isoforms. As a result, previous studies into the role of CK in energy metabolism have not been able to directly differentiate between the individual CK species.
