On the strong field dependence and nonlinear response to gadolinium contrast agent of proton transverse relaxation rates in dairy cream

Magn Reson Imaging. 2005 Jul;23(6):757-64. doi: 10.1016/j.mri.2005.07.001.

Abstract

Dairy cream, as a suspension of lipid droplets in water, is a potentially useful magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) phantom material and an interesting material for studying fundamental relaxation mechanisms. Here we report a strong increase in the transverse relaxation rates with field strength for both the water and lipid protons in dairy cream. Also, studies at 4.7 T reveal a nonlinear response of transverse relaxation rates with increasing concentration of a common gadolinium (Gd)-based contrast agent, including an initial decrease of water relaxation rates as measured with Hahn spin echoes at the lower Gd concentrations. The results are treated within the framework of a model in which the magnetic susceptibility difference between the lipid droplets and the aqueous phase plays the prominent role for transverse relaxation. Second-order polynomial fits of the water proton transverse relaxation rate dependence on field strength and on Gd concentration at 4.7 T provided experimental parameters from which model parameters are extracted and compared with expectations available from the literature.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Contrast Media
  • Dairy Products / analysis*
  • Gadolinium / analysis
  • Gadolinium / chemistry*
  • Lipids / analysis
  • Lipids / chemistry*
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging / instrumentation*
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging / methods*
  • Nonlinear Dynamics
  • Phantoms, Imaging*
  • Protons
  • Water / analysis
  • Water / chemistry*

Substances

  • Contrast Media
  • Lipids
  • Protons
  • Water
  • Gadolinium