Spatially localized, one- and two-dimensional NMR spectroscopy and in vivo application to human muscle

The localized 1H MR spectrum of human muscle has recently been reported to feature unassigned, orientation-dependent resonance lines. For their characterization in vivo, various NMR techniques were combined with 3D spatial localization: 2D-J spectroscopy, zero-quantum- and Zeeman-order-filtering, double-quantum-filtering, 2D-constant-time COSY, dipolar-order filtering, and 2D-longitudinal-order separated spectroscopy. The successful implementation of these methods on a whole-body MR system and their application to study human subjects is described. 1H MR spectra of human muscle were found to feature residual dipolar couplings and anisotropic susceptibilities which render resonance frequencies, phases, and--with some sequences--signal intensities orientation dependent. Two of the unidentified resonances unequivocally form a dipolar doublet of two equivalent protons, centered at 3.93 ppm. All unknown as well as previously assigned peaks in the range between 2.7 and 3.6 ppm are either subject to dipolar coupling themselves or overlap with spectral contributions of metabolites involved in dipolar coupling. The methyl protons of creatine are likely to be subject to residual dipolar coupling and do therefore form a dipolar triplet and not a singlet as previously assumed. Finally, X3, a further unidentified peak at 3.5 ppm, appears to be part of a multiplet with its center at 3.3 ppm and overlapping the trimethylammonium resonance.