Topical magnetic resonance

Abstract The last seven years have witnessed a rapid expansion in the use of NMR to study the biochemistry of living systems and has culminated in the use of surface coils, TMR field profiling or a combination of both for in-vivo investigations in animals and humans. The 13 C and 13 P investigations of fundamental biochemistry and physiology on isolated tissues and organs have laid the foundations for introducing high resolution NMR into clinical medicine. While it is true that as yet there have been relatively few clinical investigations, the first whole body TMR studies are imminent and there is every reason to believe that such studies will be able to make a major contribution in medicine. Because of its power and versatility NMR is in widespread use throughout the physical sciences where many ingenious techniques have been used to provide detailed information about molecular structure, molecular motion and chemical kinetics. As yet relatively few of these techniques have been introduced into in-vivo NMR investigation of biochemistry so in the future we can expect further developments that will help to investigate human metabolism. Of course NMR is no stranger to the field of biology and medicine since spin-imaging has already made a significant contribution to clinical diagnosis. The role that 1 H, 13 C and 31 P high resolution NMR studies are likely to fulfill however is fundamentally different (61) because they provide specific biochemical information about metabolic function. It is in the assessment of metabolic response to disease and stress together with monitoring objectively the efficacy and management of treatment that TMR methods are likely to be of greatest value.