Spatially Localized Two-Dimensional J-Resolved NMR Spectroscopy via Intermolecular Double-Quantum Coherences for Biological Samples at 7 T

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) constitutes a mainstream technique for characterizing biological samples. Benefiting from the separation of chemical shifts and J couplings, spatially localized two-dimensional (2D) J-resolved spectroscopy (JPRESS) shows better identification of complex metabolite resonances than one-dimensional MRS does and facilitates the extraction of J coupling information. However, due to variations of macroscopic magnetic susceptibility in biological samples, conventional JPRESS spectra generally suffer from the influence of field inhomogeneity. In this paper, we investigated the implementation of the localized 2D J-resolved spectroscopy based on intermolecular double-quantum coherences (iDQCs) on a 7 T MRI scanner. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) aqueous solution, an intact pig brain tissue, and a whole fish (Harpadon nehereus) were explored by using the localized iDQC J-resolved spectroscopy (iDQCJRES) method, and the results were compared to those obtained by using the conventional 2D JPRESS method. RESULTS: Inhomogeneous line broadening, caused by the variations of macroscopic magnetic susceptibility in the detected biological samples (the intact pig brain tissue and the whole fish), degrades the quality of 2D JPRESS spectra, particularly when a large voxel is selected and some strongly structured components are included (such as the fish spinal cord). By contrast, high-resolution 2D J-resolved information satisfactory for metabolite analyses can be obtained from localized 2D iDQCJRES spectra without voxel size limitation and field shimming. From the contrastive experiments, it is obvious that the spectral information observed in the localized iDQCJRES spectra acquired from large voxels without field shimming procedure (i.e. in inhomogeneous fields) is similar to that provided by the JPRESS spectra acquired from small voxels after field shimming procedure (i.e. in relatively homogeneous fields). CONCLUSION: The localized iDQCJRES method holds advantage for recovering high-resolution 2D J-resolved information from inhomogeneous fields caused by external non-ideal field condition or internal macroscopic magnetic susceptibility variations in biological samples, and it is free of voxel size limitation and time-consuming field shimming procedure. This method presents a complementary way to the conventional JPRESS method for MRS measurements on MRI systems equipped with broad inner bores, and may provide a promising tool for in vivo MRS applications.