Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 15, 2026
09:01
Metabolomic Analysis of Rat Brain by High Resolution Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy of Tissue Extracts
Published on: September 21, 2014
15.2K
Correlation-Weighted 23Na Magnetic Resonance Fingerprinting in the Brain
Lauren F O'Donnell1, Gonzalo G Rodriguez1,2, Gregory Lemberskiy1
1Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, New York, USA.
NMR in Biomedicine
|October 16, 2025
Summary
A new sodium magnetic resonance fingerprinting (23Na MRF) method enables simultaneous mapping of relaxation times and sodium density. This technique accurately measures these parameters in phantoms and healthy volunteer brains at 7T.
Area of Science:
- Magnetic Resonance Imaging
- Biophysics
- Nuclear Magnetic Resonance
Background:
- Sodium-23 (23Na) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is crucial for assessing tissue viability and function.
- Quantitative mapping of 23Na relaxation parameters (T1, T2*, and density) is challenging due to complex spin dynamics and B1/frequency inhomogeneities.
- Existing methods often struggle with simultaneous and accurate quantification of these parameters.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and validate a novel 23Na magnetic resonance fingerprinting (MRF) method for simultaneous mapping of T1, T2*, and sodium density.
- To incorporate corrections for radiofrequency transmission (B1+) and frequency offset (Δf0) inhomogeneities directly into the MRF framework.
- To assess the performance of the developed 23Na MRF method in phantoms and in vivo at ultra-high field (7T).
Main Methods:
- Implementation of a 3D FLORET sequence with 23 radiofrequency pulses for 23Na MRF acquisition.
- Simulation of a comprehensive fingerprint dictionary using irreducible spherical tensor operators to model complex spin-3/2 dynamics.
- Dictionary contained over 831,000 entries covering wide ranges of T1, T2*, ΔB1+, and Δf0.
- Fingerprint matching using Pearson correlation, with relaxation maps weighted by correlation coefficients.
Main Results:
- The 23Na MRF method produced relaxation and density values comparable to reference methods in a multi-compartment phantom.
- In vivo brain scans of five healthy volunteers at 7T demonstrated good agreement between measured sodium relaxation times (T1, T2*) in CSF, gray matter, and white matter, and previously reported literature values.
- The method successfully mapped T1, T2*, and sodium density simultaneously, accounting for B1+ and Δf0 variations.
Conclusions:
- The developed 23Na MRF technique provides accurate and simultaneous quantification of key sodium MRI parameters.
- This method offers robust performance in the presence of B1+ and Δf0 inhomogeneities, crucial for ultra-high field imaging.
- The validated 23Na MRF approach holds significant potential for advancing quantitative sodium MRI in clinical and research settings.
Related Concept Videos
01:24Magnetic Resonance Imaging
9.0K
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a noninvasive medical imaging technique based on a phenomenon of nuclear physics discovered in the 1930s, in which matter exposed to magnetic fields and radio waves was found to emit radio signals. In 1970, a physician and researcher named Raymond Damadian noticed that malignant (cancerous) tissue gave off different signals than normal body tissue. He applied for a patent for the first MRI scanning device in clinical use by the early 1980s. The early MRI...
9.0K
01:25Applications Of NMR In Biology
4.4K
Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is a very valuable analytical technique for researchers. It has been used for more than 50 years as an analytical tool. F. Bloch and E. Purcell formulated NMR in 1946 and won the 1952 Nobel Prize in Physics for their work. Biological macromolecules such as proteins, nucleic acids, lipids, and organic molecules including pharmaceutical compounds, can be studied using this versatile tool that exploits the magnetic properties of certain nuclei.
4.4K