Brain tissue T1 predominately reflects local macromolecular content and is magnetic field strength dependent. In this study, we quantified the field dependence of macromolecular proton T1 (or rate Rm) in white matter by evaluating its effect exerted on the water signal through magnetization transfer. Inversion recovery and saturation recovery experiments were performed on a group of eight volunteers at 0.55, 1.5, 3 and 7 T, and were jointly analyzed using a two-pool exchange model. Rm was found to be close to inversely proportional to B0, consistent with previous in vitro findings at very low fields.
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