Diffusion pore imaging by hyperpolarized xenon-129 nuclear magnetic resonance

Phys Rev Lett. 2013 Jul 12;111(2):028101. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.028101. Epub 2013 Jul 10.

Abstract

While NMR diffusion measurements are widely used to derive parameters indirectly related to the microstructure of biological tissues and porous media, direct imaging of pore shapes would be of high interest. Here we demonstrate experimentally that complexly shaped closed pores can be imaged by diffusion acquisitions. Collecting the signal from the whole sample eliminates the problem of vanishing signal at increasing resolution of conventional NMR imaging. This approach may be used to noninvasively obtain structural information inaccessible so far such as pore or cell shapes, cell density, or axon integrity.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Diffusion
  • Fourier Analysis
  • Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy / methods*
  • Models, Chemical*
  • Xenon Isotopes / chemistry*

Substances

  • Xenon Isotopes