Main description:

In the four decades since its discovery nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) has become an indispensable tool for obtaining chemical information often. inaccessible by other methods. With the development of instruments of increasingly higher magnetic field strengths, the integration of powerful computers and the availability of an expanding array of flexible software new applications and developments have proliferated rapidly. Among the more exciting new advances is the use of NMR spectroscopy to probe biological systems. The last ten years have witnessed tremendous progress in the development of new NMR imaging and spectroscopic techniques for research and diagnostic applications. The ability to investigate metabolic processes and anatomical structure of intact biological systems under conditions that are totally non-destructive and non-invasive clearly provides much of the impetus for the intense activity that has been generated in the fields of medicine, radiology and the allied basic sciences. Significant advances have been made in this brief period: Whole-body proton NMR imaging today provides anatomical definition of normal and abnormal tissue with a contrast and detection sensitivity often superior to those of X-ray computed tomography and other competing imaging methods. Biochemical pathways, using NMR spectroscopy of protons, carbon-13 and phosphorus-31 nuclei in live animals and man can readily be followed by surface-coil methods to detect metabolites in localized regions. Indicative of the importance and widespread acceptance of these techniques is the explosive growth that the NMR literature is experiencing. This augers well for the future.

Contents:

An Overview of Biological Applications of NMR.- Theoretical Background to High Resolution NMR Parameters and Nuclear Shielding Calculations.- An Introduction to NMR Relaxation Mechanisms.- Some Calculations of Nuclear Spin-Spin Couplings.- Two-Dimensional NMR Spectroscopy.- NMR Data Processing in Computers.- The Physical Basis of NMR Tomography.- The Sensitivity of the NMR Imaging Experiment.- The Use of Models in the Interpretation of NMR Images.- Chemical Shift Imaging.- Medical Aspects of Magnetic Resonance.- Mr-Imaging and Spectroscopy Offering New Possibilities in Medical Diagnoses.- Cost and Availablity of Commercial NMR Equipment; And Requirements for Housing, Installation and Operation.- Practical Aspects of In-Vitro and In-Vivo T1 and T2 Measurements.- Construction of a Combined High Resolution NMR Spectrometer - Tomograph.- Gathering Metabolic Information Using 13C and 1H High Resolution Spectra of Living Systems.- Non-Invasive Localized Volume Spectroscopy of Animals: Prospects from the Viewpoint of the High Resolution Spectroscopist.- NMR Methods FOR Measuring Cation Concentrations in Biological Systems.- NMR Spectroscopy of Intracellular Sodium Ions in Living Cells.- Applications of Carbon-13 and Sodium-23 NMR in the Study of Plants, Animal, and Human Cells.- NMR Measurement of Intracellular Free Magnesium Ions in Living Cells.- NMR Studies of Drug Receptor Complexes: Antifolate Drugs Binding to Dihydrofolate Reductase.- Non-Medical Applications of NMR Imaging.- Other Methods for Imaging the Intact Human Body.- How to Cope with the Literature of NMR of Living Systems.- List of Participants.