The Investigation of Structure and Metabolism by In Vivo NMR

The development of wide-bore superconducting magnets has enabled nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to be performed on living tissue within both animals and human beings. The application of high resolution NMR spectroscopy to biology and medicine has been established by several research groups. NMR techniques can be used by biochemists and clinicians to noninvasively study metabolism in a variety of tissues. The phosphorus nucleus in particular can provide a detailed description of changes occurring in intracerebral, intracellular constituents before, during, and after severe ischemic events, as shown by Delpy et al. (1982). The physiologic potential of NMR spectroscopy has now been combined with the diagnostic capability of proton NMR imaging in a single instrument. The authors would like to report on the use of one such machine which has been developed by Oxfrod Research Systems in order to study the human head and torso.