A new approach for direct measurements of myelin content is to image an sub-millisecond T2 component in the brain, likely associated with myelin membrane protons . This study characterized this ultrashort-T2 component across the whole brain using a novel relaxometry approach at ultrashort echo times (UTEs). This component had an estimated T2* ~ 0.6-1.0 ms at 3T and ~0.2-0.4 ms at 7T, as well as an approximately -3.2 ppm frequency shift from water that has never been measured before in vivo. This verifies that the ultrashort-T2 component primarily arises from methylene protons, as in the myelin phospholipid membranes.
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