PNNL

Abstract

Methods suitable for measuring 1H relaxation times such as T1, T2 and T1p, in small sized biological objects including live cells, excised organs and tissues, oil seeds etc., were developed in this work. This was achieved by combining inversion-recovery, spin-echo, or spin lock segment with the phase-adjusted spinning sideband (PASS) technique that was applied at slow sample spinning rate. Here, 2D-PASS was used to produce a high-resolution 1H spectrum free from the magnetic susceptibility broadening so that the relaxation parameters of individual metabolite can be determined. Because of the slow spinning employed, tissue and cell damage due to sample spinning is minimized. The methodologies were demonstrated by measuring 1H T1, T2 and T1p of metabolites in excised rat livers and sesame seeds at spinning rates of as low as 40 Hz.