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Diffusion and relaxation mapping of cartilage‐bone plugs and excised disks using microscopic magnetic resonance imaging
Author(s) -
Xia Yang,
Farquhar Tony,
BurtonWurster Nancy,
Ray Edward,
Jelinski Lynn W.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
magnetic resonance in medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.696
H-Index - 225
eISSN - 1522-2594
pISSN - 0740-3194
DOI - 10.1002/mrm.1910310306
Subject(s) - cartilage , magnetic resonance imaging , materials science , nuclear magnetic resonance , spin–lattice relaxation , effective diffusion coefficient , chemistry , relaxation (psychology) , diffusion , anatomy , biomedical engineering , psychology , social psychology , medicine , physics , radiology , nuclear quadrupole resonance , thermodynamics
Spatially resolved maps of proton self‐diffusion coefficients (D) and relaxation times ( T 1 and T 2 ) were obtained on cartilage‐bone plug samples and on excised disks of canine cartilage at a transverse resolution of 30 μm, using microscopic magnetic resonance imaging (micro‐MRI). Results are compared for excised disks of cartilage and intact cartilage‐bone plugs. Correlations between the absolute water concentration, the self‐diffusion coefficient and the T 1 relaxation are reported. The diffusion coefficient is not a linear function of water concentration. The thickness of the disks is 600 μm, compared with the ca. 900 μm observed for the cartilage‐bone plugs, presumably due to the absence of the interfacial or tidemark layer of interdigitated cartilage and bone in the former samples. Our results suggest that excised disks of cartilage are excellent models for the articular surface and the first 500 or so microns of tissue. The molecular parameters of spin‐spin and spin‐lattice relaxation times, as well as the water self‐diffusion coefficient, are virtually identical in the two types of samples. However, the cartilage‐bone plugs have the additional feature of permitting the study of the tidemark region, a region that likely plays a major role in the transmission of mechanical force.