Academic literature on the topic 'Transverse and Longitudinal Relaxation Methods'

Objective: The label free ultrasmall fluorescent ferrite clusters have been engineered in a controlled fashion which was stabilized by serum protein and functionalized by folic acid for the application of targeted multimodal optical and Magnetic Resonance (MR) cancer imaging. Methods: The ultra-small manganese ferrite nanoclusters (PMNCs) with a diameter of 4 nm have a commendable effect on the longitudinal (T1) and transverse (T2) relaxation in MR imaging that was evident from the phantom and animal MRI. Results: The calculated longitudinal molar relaxivity of nanoclusters was found to be 6.9 ± 0.10 mM-1 S-1 which was exactly 2.22 times better than the conventional Gd-DOTA and their 4.01 ratio of the transverse (r2) and longitudinal (r1) relaxivities made them a potential candidate for both T1 and T2 contrast agents in MRI. In addition, the fluorescence-based small animal imaging showed folic acid driven accumulated fluorescent signal at the tumour site to conclude the capacity of PMNCs for targeted fluorescence imaging of cancer diagnosis. Conclusion: The cytotoxicity assay and histopathology studies were the evidence for their safe biodistribution in animal systems. Furthermore, the protein encapsulated clusters have the ability to deliver the anticancer drug Methotrexate (MTX) to the cancer tissues with a sustained manner. Therefore, one can conclude the remarkable efficacy of architect nanoclusters for theragnosis.

Background: Deep gray matter (DGM) is affected in relapsing–remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) and may be studied using short-term longitudinal MRI. Objective: To investigate two-year changes in spin-echo transverse relaxation rate (R2) and atrophy in DGM, and its relationship with disease severity in RRMS patients. Methods: Twenty six RRMS patients and 26 matched controls were imaged at 4.7 T. Multiecho spin-echo R2 maps and atrophy measurements were obtained in DGM at baseline and two-year follow-up. Differences between MRI measures and correlations to disease severity were examined. Results: After two years, mean R2 values in the globus pallidus and pulvinar increased by ~4% ( p<0.001) in patients and <1.7% in controls. Two-year changes in R2 showed significant correlation to disease severity in the globus pallidus, pulvinar, substantia nigra, and thalamus. Multiple regression of the two-year R2 difference using these four DGM structures as variables, yielded high correlation with disease severity ( r=0.83, p<0.001). Two-year changes in volume and R2 showed significant correlation only for the globus pallidus in multiple sclerosis (MS) ( p<0.05). Conclusions: Two-year difference R2 measurements in DGM correlate to disease severity in MS. R2 mapping and atrophy measurements over two years can be used to identify changes in DGM in MS.

Magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles are relatively advanced nanomaterials, and are widely used in biology, physics and medicine, especially as contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging. Characterization of the properties of magnetic nanoparticles plays an important role in the application of magnetic particles. As a contrast agent, the relaxation rate directly affects image enhancement. We characterized a series of monodispersed magnetic nanoparticles using different methods and measured their relaxation rates using a 0.47 T low-field Nuclear Magnetic Resonance instrument. Generally speaking, the properties of magnetic nanoparticles are closely related to their particle sizes; however, neither longitudinal relaxation rate r 1 nor transverse relaxation rate r 2 changes monotonously with the particle size d . Therefore, size can affect the magnetism of magnetic nanoparticles, but it is not the only factor. Then, we defined the relaxation rates r i ′ (i = 1 or 2) using the induced magnetization of magnetic nanoparticles, and found that the correlation relationship between r 1 ′ relaxation rate and r 1 relaxation rate is slightly worse, with a correlation coefficient of R 2 = 0.8939, while the correlation relationship between r 2 ′ relaxation rate and r 2 relaxation rate is very obvious, with a correlation coefficient of R 2 = 0.9983. The main reason is that r 2 relaxation rate is related to the magnetic field inhomogeneity, produced by magnetic nanoparticles; however r 1 relaxation rate is mainly a result of the direct interaction of hydrogen nucleus in water molecules and the metal ions in magnetic nanoparticles to shorten the T 1 relaxation time, so it is not directly related to magnetic field inhomogeneity.

Abstract. Multidimensional, heteronuclear NMR relaxation methods are used extensively to characterize the dynamics of biological macromolecules. Acquisition of relaxation datasets on proteins typically requires significant measurement time, often several days. Accordion spectroscopy offers a powerful means to shorten relaxation rate measurements by encoding the “relaxation dimension” into the indirect evolution period in multidimensional experiments. Time savings can also be achieved by non-uniform sampling (NUS) of multidimensional NMR data, which is used increasingly to improve spectral resolution or increase sensitivity per unit time. However, NUS is not commonly implemented in relaxation experiments, because most reconstruction algorithms are inherently nonlinear, leading to problems when estimating signal intensities, relaxation rate constants and their error bounds. We have previously shown how to avoid these shortcomings by combining accordion spectroscopy with NUS, followed by data reconstruction using sparse exponential mode analysis, thereby achieving a dramatic decrease in the total length of longitudinal relaxation experiments. Here, we present the corresponding transverse relaxation experiment, taking into account the special considerations required for its successful implementation in the framework of the accordion-NUS approach. We attain the highest possible precision in the relaxation rate constants by optimizing the NUS scheme with respect to the Cramér–Rao lower bound of the variance of the estimated parameter, given the total number of sampling points and the spectrum-specific signal characteristics. The resulting accordion-NUS R1ρ relaxation experiment achieves comparable precision in the parameter estimates compared to conventional CPMG (Carr–Purcell–Meiboom–Gill) R2 or spin-lock R1ρ experiments while saving an order of magnitude in experiment time.