A nuclear magnetic resonance imaging technique designed for studies of water in plant leaves

A new imaging technique is described which uses nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to create a water profile of plant leaves. The water profile shows the average distribution of water as a function of depth into a leaf along a line perpendicular to the leaf surface; it can be used to measure the thickness of cell layers and the quantity of water in each layer. Two-dimensional NMR methods were used to avoid chemical shift distortion which degrades the resolution in leaf images made by conventional NMR techniques; image resolution was improved further by deconvolution analysis. To illustrate its application, the technique was used to follow changes in the internal structure of developing leaves.