Water Diffusion Behavior in Bone Marrow

Silvia De Santis^1,2, Silvia Capuani^1,2

Bone-Marrow is found in both diaphysis, where it is free, and in spongy bone, where it fills the pores of the bone-matrix. The diffusion of water contained in the bone-marrow can be investigated by means of the γ exponent, which quantifies the deviation from the ideal Gaussian diffusive conditions. The diffusion behaviour of water in free bone-marrow samples is characterized by γ very close to unity. Conversely, in trabecular bone marrow the internal gradients at the interface between bone and bone-marrow affect the spin diffusion causing a deviation from the Gaussian behaviour, and γ values smaller than unity are observed.