Effect of Carr-Purcell refocusing pulse trains on transverse relaxation times of metabolites in rat brain at 9.4 Tesla

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Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the effect of Carr-Purcell (CP) pulse trains on transverse relaxation times, T2, of tissue water and metabolites (both noncoupled and J-coupled spins) in the rat brain at 9.4 Tesla (T) using LASER, CP-LASER, and T-LASER sequences.

Methods: Proton NMR spectra were measured in rat brain in vivo at 9.4T. Spectra were acquired at multiple echo times ranging from 18 to 402 ms. All spectra were analyzed using LCModel with simulated basis sets. Signals of metabolites as a function of echo time were fitted using a mono-exponential function to determine their T2 relaxation times.

Results: Measured T2s for tissue water and all metabolites were significantly longer with CP-LASER and T-LASER compared with LASER. The T2 increased by a factor of ∼1.3 for noncoupled and weakly coupled spins (e.g., N-Acetylaspartate and total creatine) and by a factor of ∼2 (e.g., glutamine and taurine) to ∼4 (e.g., glutamate and myo-inositol) for strongly coupled spins.

Conclusion: Application of a CP pulse train results in a larger increase in T2 relaxation times for strongly coupled spins than for noncoupled (singlet) and weakly coupled spins. This needs to be taken into account when correcting for T2 relaxation in CP-like sequences such as LASER.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)13-20
Number of pages8
JournalMagnetic resonance in medicine
Volume73
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 1 2015

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Keywords

  • Brain
  • CP pulse train
  • LASER
  • LCModel
  • T

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