NMR imaging microscopy
In the past several years, proton nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) imaging has become an established technique in diagnostic medicine and biomedical research. Although much of the work in this field has been directed toward development of whole-body imagers, James Aguayo, Stephen Blackband, and Joseph Schoeninger of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine working with Markus Hintermann and Mark Mattingly of Bruker Medical Instruments, recently developed a small-bore NMR microscope with sufficient resolution to image a single African clawed toad cell (Nature 1986, 322, 190-91). This improved resolution should lead to increased use of NMR imaging for chemical, as well as biological or physiological, applications. The future of NMR microscopy, like that of many other newly emerging techniques, is ripe with possibilities. Because of its high cost, however, it is likely to remain primarily a research tool for some time. ''It's like having a camera,'' says Smith. ''You've got a way to look at things at very fine levels, and people are going to find lots of uses for it. But it is a very expensive technique - it costs $100,000 to add imaging capability once you have a high-resolution NMR, which itself is at least a $300,000 instrument. If it can answer even a few questions that can't be answered any other way, though, it may be well worth the cost.''
- OSTI ID:
- 5345330
- Journal Information:
- Anal. Chem.; (United States), Vol. 58:12
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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