Jae-Seung Lee1,2, Ravinder Regatte2,
Alexej Jerschow3
1New York University, New York, NY,
United States; 2Department of Radiology, New York University
School of Medicine, New York, United States; 3Chemistry
Department, New York University, New York, United States
The
sodium ions bound to tissues and organs can provide us with an invaluable
information on the onset of disorder, such as osteoarthristis and
degenerative disc diseases, through their concentration and quadrupolar
interaction/relaxation. Slow motion of sodium ions may occur in cells, and
its altered relaxation properties further provide important insights into
cell viability, such as in the case of tumor tissue, or in the monitoring of
muscle activity. In this paper, we are presenting two 23Na MRI
contrast schemes, one selecting sodium ions with quadrupolar interation and
the other with quadrupolar relaxation.