title: Relaxation times and microstructures.
abstract: A discussion is presented of the evaluation of multiple relaxation components from water protons in biological tissue. The principal focus is to draw attention to the way in which limitations in the raw NMR data, such as signal-to-noise ratio, data sampling density and acquisition window width, affect the precision and resolution in the processed multiple component solution of the return to thermal equilibrium. The second issue discussed is the interpretation of these multiple components in terms of microstructural compartments of the biological sample and, thirdly, we outline some of the successes in determining regional and pathological variations in microstructure in the human body in-vivo, using the technique of multiple relaxation components.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: F R
authors.initials: FR
authors.lastname: Fenrich
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Beaulieu
authors.forename: P S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Allen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016880:Anisotropy; D002463:Cell Membrane Permeability; D055598:Chemical Phenomena; D002627:Chemistry, Physical; D004058:Diffusion; D006801:Humans; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D008280:Magnetics; D008433:Mathematics; D009186:Myelin Sheath / Q000473:pathology; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000473:pathology; D011522:Protons; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D011522:Protons; D014867:Water