Conventional Single-quantum Coherence Research Articles

High Resolution Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy on Biological Tissue and Metabolomics.

High-resolution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is a universal analytical tool. It can provide detailed information on chemical shifts, J coupling constants, multiplet patterns, and relative peak areas. It plays an important role in the fields of chemistry, biology, medicine, and pharmacy. A highly homogeneous magnetic field is a prerequisite for excellent spectral resolution. However, in some cases, such as in vivo and ex vivo biological tissues, the magnetic field inhomogeneity due to magnetic susceptibility variation in samples is unavoidable and hard to eliminate by conventional methods. The techniques based on intermolecular multiple quantum coherences and conventional single quantum coherence can remove the influence of the field inhomogeneity effects and be applied to obtain highresolution NMR spectra of biological tissues, including in vivo animal and human tissues. Broadband 1H homo-decoupled NMR spectroscopy displays J coupled resonances as collapsed singlets, resulting in highly resolved spectra. It can be used to acquire high-resolution spectra of some pharmaceuticals. The J-difference edited spectra can be used to detect J coupled metabolites, such as γ-aminobutyric acid, the detection of which is interfered by intense neighboring peaks. High-resolution 1H NMR spectroscopy has been widely utilized for the identification and characterization of biological fluids, constituting an important tool in drug discovery, drug development, and disease diagnosis.

Apparent diffusion behaviors of spins in the presence of distant dipolar field in two-component solution NMR

The diffusion behaviors of spins in the presence of distant dipolar field in two-component spin systems during the second evolution period of a modified CRAZED sequence before acquisition were investigated. Theoretical formulas were deduced based on the distant dipolar field model. The simulation results and experimental observations are consistent with the theoretical predictions. This study shows that the relative intensities of signals from intermolecular zero-quantum coherences (iZQCs) and intermolecular double-quantum coherences (iDQCs) have the same diffusion attenuation characteristic under the combined effect of diffusion weighting gradients and distant dipolar field during the second evolution period. This diffusion attenuation may be different from that of conventional single-quantum coherence signal, depending on the relative orientation of the diffusion weighting gradients to the coherence selection gradients. The results presented herein are helpful for understanding the effect of distant dipolar field from a spin system on the diffusion behavior of other spin system and the signal properties in the iZQC or iDQC magnetic resonance imaging.

Apparent diffusion behaviour of intermolecular double-quantum coherence modulated by a distant dipolar field in solution NMR

A modified correlated spectroscopy (COSY) revamped with asymmetric Z-gradient echo detection sequence was designed to investigate the influence of diffusion behaviour on intermolecular double-quantum coherence signal attenuation during the pre-acquisition period. Theoretical formulas were deduced and experimental measurements and simulations were performed. It is found that the diffusion behaviour of intermolecular double-quantum coherence in the pre-acquisition period may be different from that of conventional single-quantum coherence, depending on the relative orientation of diffusion weighting gradients to coherence selection gradients. When the orientation of the diffusion weighting gradients is parallel or anti-parallel to the orientation of the coherence selection gradients, the diffusion is modulated by the distant dipolar field. This study is helpful for understanding the signal properties in intermolecular double-quantum coherence magnetic resonance imaging.

Improvement in the contrast of CEST MRI via intermolecular double quantum coherences

The tremendous potential of chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) agents as an emerging class of magnetic resonance imaging contrast media has been demonstrated in recent years. In a CEST experiment, a high CEST contrast is always welcome. However, when the exchange rate is low, which may happen in exchangeable solute protons of low concentration, it is usually hard to obtain an excellent CEST efficiency. Recently, we noted that the intermolecular multiple quantum coherence signal is more sensitive to the changes of the magnetization magnitude than a conventional single quantum coherence signal. Consequently, it may be easier when used in obtaining a CEST contrast. In this note, a modified COSY (two-dimensional correlated spectroscopy) revamped with an asymmetric Z-gradient echo detection (CRAZED) sequence combined with an off-resonance saturation pulse followed by a standard spin-echo imaging sequence was designed to obtain a better CEST contrast image based on the intermolecular double quantum coherence method. An analytical expression was derived from a dipolar field theory. Experiments were performed on an agar–glucose phantom, and the results demonstrate the feasibility of our method.

Functional MRI at 3T using intermolecular double-quantum coherence (iDQC) with spin-echo (SE) acquisitions

To reinvestigate the dependence of the signal and contrast on sequence parameters and tissue relaxation times for intermolecular double-quantum coherence (iDQC) signals, and to explore the possibility to use a spin-echo (SE)-iDQC sequence for detecting activation signals at 3T. Brain activations were detected in five human volunteers in a visual simulation study using a SE-iDQC sequence, in addition to a GE-iDQC and a conventional single-quantum coherence (SQC) blood-oxygenation-level-dependent (BOLD) sequence. A brain phantom was also used for some quantitative measurements. By choosing an optimal echo time TE (approximately T2) and iDQC evolution time tau(approximately 20 ms), robust brain activations were detected using the SE-iDQC sequence, in addition to the GE-iDQC and a conventional single-quantum coherence (SQC) BOLD sequence. A higher percentage signal change due to activation was observed for both the iDQC-based measurements in comparison to the conventional SQC acquisition. Even though a phenomenological analysis consistent with the experimental results was provided, a detailed model is still needed for the contrast mechanism at microscopic level to guide potential applications of brain functional imaging based on the SE-iDQC.

Intermolecular double-quantum coherence MR microimaging of pig tail with unique image contrast.

Image contrast in intermolecular double-quantum coherence (iDQC) imaging of a pig tail was investigated on a 7.05-T microimaging scanner. In addition to TR (repetition time) and TE (echo time), the time interval tau between radio frequency pulses during iDQC evolution and the areas under the iDQC-encode gradients in the iDQC imaging sequence were also used to manipulate image contrast. When suitable imaging parameters were selected, images with unique contrast, such as those with certain regions of the sample highlighted, were obtained without using contrast agents. The effects of iDQC-encode gradient on image contrast were studied quantitatively, and the unique contrast imposed by the related diffusion weighting was also shown. Experimental results demonstrated that the iDQC images have contrast fundamentally different from the conventional single-quantum coherence images.

About the CRAZED sequence

AbstractIn this article we report a detailed and understandable analysis of the evolution of various coherence orders in a Correlated 2D spectroscopy Revamped by Asymmetric Z‐gradient Echo Detection (CRAZED) like pulse sequence, used to select a signal from intermolecular Multi Quantum Coherences (iMQCs). Because the signal to‐noise‐ratio of iMQC is much lower than the signal from conventional single quantum coherence (SQC), an optimization of experimental parameters is a necessity when measurements are made with iMQC. For this purpose a phase cycle is shown that not only allows a simpler selection of a particular quantum coherence order, but also removes receiver artifacts. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Concepts Magn Reson Part A 21A: 22–36, 2004

Enhanced sensitivity to molecular diffusion with intermolecular double-quantum coherences: implications and potential applications

Apparent molecular self-diffusion rates for 1H intermolecular double-quantum coherences (iDQCs) were measured in solvents covering a wide range of intrinsic diffusion coefficients at 1.5, 9.4 and 14T, and water iDQC diffusion-weighted images were obtained at 1.5T in human brains and at 9.4T in rat brains. Conventional single quantum coherence (SQC) measurements were also made in the same samples. Experimental results indicate that iDQCs are approximately twice as sensitive to diffusion as SQC. A general theoretical expression was derived, and a model was proposed to explain the phenomenon. Potential applications in DWI and brain fMRI were also discussed.

FMRI of auditory stimulation with intermolecular double-quantum coherences (iDQCs) at 1.5T

An intermolecular double-quantum coherence (iDQC) imaging technique was used to study auditory activation in the human brain at 1.5T with a dual temporal lobe surface phased array coil and a quadrature head coil. Preliminary results demonstrate that it is feasible to obtain auditory activation maps using iDQC imaging at 1.5T, both in individual subjects using the surface coil array and with multisubject averaging of data using the head coil. The most robust activation map was obtained when a spin-echo (SE) acquisition was combined with an iDQC excitation. Since SE with conventional single quantum coherence (SQC) and similar parameters showed much reduced activation in spite of its higher signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), it was determined that activation resulting from the SE-iDQC acquisition almost entirely originates from iDQCs. In addition, the fact that the robust activation was obtained using signals at an evolution time more sensitive to changes in magnetic susceptibilities also suggests the sensitivity of iDQCs to the BOLD effect upon activation. iDQCs provide a novel MRI method which is potentially more sensitive to the BOLD effect traditionally measured with SQC. Magn Reson Med 45:356-364, 2001.

Measurement of high resolution single-quantum J resolved proton spectra in inhomogeneous magnetic fields via zero-quantum coherences

Magnetic field inhomogeneity continues to be a major problem in NMR, particularly in the context of high magnetic field strengths (in absolute, hertz, rather than relative, ppm, terms) and in the context of NMR imaging where the sample volume is large. The only NMR coherence which is intrinsically independent of magnetic field inhomogeneity is zero-quantum coherence (I, 2). Despite the fact that these coherences result in spectra with intrinsic linewidths solely dependent on their spin-spin relaxation times (3), even in an inhomogeneous magnetic field, the utility of the method is compromised because the zero-quantum spectrum does not display the parameters conventionally used in spectral analysis (4). In this communication we demonstrate a pulse sequence whereby zeroquantum coherences can be made to display singlequantum coherence coupling constants at high resolution; this permits the conventional single-quantum coherence spectrum to be reassembled, even when the original data are acquired in an inhomogeneous magnetic field. It is well known that the resonance frequencies and scalar couplings observed in an NMR spectrum are determined by the order of coherence being observed (5) and that these are two of the most important parameters used in spectral analysis. For the chemical shift, the general expression for the precessional frequency of a P-quantum coherence of spins k is given by