Investigation of low frequency drift in fMRI signal.

Low frequency drift (0.0-0.015 Hz) has often been reported in time series fMRI data. This drift has often been attributed to physiological noise or subject motion, but no studies have been done to test this assumption. Time series T*2-weighted volumes were acquired on two clinical 1.5 T MRI systems using spiral and EPI readout gradients from cadavers, a normal volunteer, and nonhomogeneous and homogeneous phantoms. The data were tested for significant differences (P = 0.001) from Gaussian noise in the frequency range 0.0-0.015 Hz. The percentage of voxels that were significant in data from the cadaver, normal volunteer, nonhomogeneous and homogeneous phantoms were 13.7-49.0%, 22.1-61.9%, 46.4-68.0%, and 1.10%, respectively. Low frequency drift was more pronounced in regions with high spatial intensity gradients. Significant drifting was present in data acquired from cadavers and nonhomogeneous phantoms and all pulse sequences tested, implying that scanner instabilities and not motion or physiological noise may be the major cause of the drift.

Metabolic abnormalities in skeletal muscle of patients receiving zidovudine therapy observed by 31P in vivo magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

Patients on long-term zidovudine (AZT) therapy experience muscle fatigue and weakness attributed to AZT-induced mitochondrial toxicity in skeletal muscle. To determine if the clinico-pathological abnormalities in these patients correspond to abnormal muscle energy metabolism, we used 31P in vivo magnetic resonance spectroscopy to follow phosphorylated metabolites during exercise. We studied 19 normal volunteers, 6 HIV-positive patients never treated with AZT, and 9 HIV-positive patients who had been treated with AZT for a mean period of 33 mo (range 12-48 mo) and had muscle biopsy-proven AZT-myopathy with abnormal mitochondria. Changes in phosphocreatine, ATP, and intracellular pH in the gastrocnemius muscle were followed during a graded steady state exercise protocol, and the recovery of phosphocreatine was followed on cessation of exercise. We found that graded steady state exercise produced a greater depletion of muscle phosphocreatine levels in the AZT-treated patients, compared to either HIV-positive patients who were not treated with AZT or normal controls. No differences in the effects of steady state exercise on muscle phosphocreatine levels were observed between the control group and the HIV-positive patients who had not been treated with AZT. The results suggest that the effect of AZT on muscle energy metabolism is significant, and similar to the effect observed in patients with known mitochondrial myopathies. Using a well-known model for control of mitochondrial metabolism, the observed differences in steady state phosphocreatine levels during exercise suggest that AZT treatment decreases the maximal work output and the maximal rate of muscle ATP synthesis.

2H nuclear magnetic resonance order parameter profiles suggest a change of molecular shape for phosphatidylcholines containing a polyunsaturated acyl chain.

Solid-state 2H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy was used to determine the orientational order parameter profiles for a series of phosphatidylcholines with perdeuterated stearic acid, 18:0d35, in position sn-1 and 18:1 omega 9, 18:2 omega 6, 18:3 omega 3, 20:4 omega 6, 20:5 omega 3, or 22:6 omega 3 in position sn-2. The main phase transition temperatures were derived from a first moment analysis, and order parameter profiles of sn-1 chains were calculated from dePaked nuclear magnetic resonance powder patterns. Comparison of the profiles at 37 degrees C showed that unsaturation causes an inhomogenous disordering along the sn-1 chain. Increasing sn-2 chain unsaturation from one to six double bonds resulted in a 1.6-kHz decrease in quadrupolar splittings of the sn-1 chain in the upper half of the chain (or plateau region) and maximum splitting difference of 4.4 kHz at methylene carbon 14. The change in chain order corresponds to a decrease in the 18:0 chain length of 0.4 +/- 0.2 A with 18:2 omega 6 versus 18:1 omega 9 in position sn-2. Fatty acids containing three or more double bonds in sn-2 showed a decrease in sn-1 chain length of 0.7 +/- 0.2 A compared with 18:1 omega 9. The chain length of all lipids decreased with increasing temperature. Highly unsaturated phosphatidylcholines (three or more double bonds in sn-2) had shorter sn-1 chains, but the chain length was somewhat less sensitive to temperature. The profiles reveal that the sn-1 chain exhibits a selective increase in motional freedom in a region located toward the bottom half of the chain as sn-2 unsaturation is increased. This corresponds to an area increase around carbon atom number 14 that is three to four times greater than the increase for the top part of the chain. A similar asymmetric decrease in order, largest toward the methyl end of the chain, was observed when 1 -palmitoyl-2-oleoylphosphatidylethanolamine goes from a lamellar to an inverse hexagonal (H,,) phase. This is consistent with a change to a more wedge-shaped space available for the acyl chain.

In vivo measurement of cerebral oxygen consumption and blood flow using 17O magnetic resonance imaging.

We used 17O NMR imaging techniques to measure the H2(17)O concentration in a 0.8-ml voxel in the cat brain following injection of an arterial bolus of enriched H2(17)O and during inhalation of enriched 17O2. We also measured the H2(17)O concentration in arterial blood during 17O2 inhalation. The data from the first measurement were used to calculate the blood flow in the voxel. The data from all three measurements were combined to calculate the oxygen consumption in the voxel. The values of cerebral blood flow and oxygen consumption calculated with 17O NMR techniques agree reasonably well with values calculated for a similar region of the cat brain using autoradiographic techniques.