Brief Communication: Spin-Lattice Relaxation Times for Mixtures of Water and Gelatin or Cotton, Compared With Normal and Malignant Tissue

Summary

Spin-lattice relaxation times (T₁'s) of samples of gelatin containing from 15 to 96% water and cotton containing from 30 to 80% water were measured with the use of a Brucker nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer operating at 30 megahertz. To determine water content, portions of the same gels used in the determination of T₁ were vacuum-dried at 37°C. A plot of water content against T₁ for gelatin followed a hyperbolic curve, which fitted a similar plot obtained with samples of regenerating liver, fetal tissue, and normal and neoplastic tissues. A similar plot for cotton was hyperbolic and slightly lower. T₁ seemed to be related primarily to the total water content of the measured sample.