BRAIN: IN VIVO MEASUREMENT OF 17O W/ SURFACE COIL STEAM DECOUPLING

骨关节炎是一种软骨退行性疾病， 4000万美国人和超过80%的人年龄在55岁及以上。 它 其特征在于软骨基质的降解， 关节僵硬肿胀骨质增生和疼痛 软骨素主要由II型细胞外基质（ECM）组成 胶原蛋白和蛋白多糖，在一个交织的阵列。 含水量 在软骨中的比例从70%到80%不等。 约60%的干 软骨的重量是胶原蛋白，其余大部分是 蛋白聚糖（PG）。 现在已知，在哺乳动物中， 早期骨关节炎主要涉及骨关节炎的丧失， PG. 我们用生理盐水/琼脂糖对健康人的膝盖进行了成像 其23 Na弛豫时间已被归一化为 软骨 这允许创建校准曲线来拟合 软骨的像素强度，以试图量化 信号了 该钠信号直接对应于样品中的PG含量。 软骨，从而提供一种监测组织完整性的方法。 我们正在研究使用表面线圈，鸟笼线圈和 仅发射具有表面接收线圈的鸟笼线圈。 我们 目前正在进行的一项计划，以确定钠浓度， 几个健康的人类志愿者以及按年龄分组的受试者。

Osteoarthritis is a degenerative disease of cartilage, affecting 40 million Americans and more than 80% of people age 55 and over. It is characterized by degradation of the cartilage matrix with symptoms of joint stiffness and swelling, bony enlargements, and pain. Cartilage consists mainly of an extra-cellular matrix (ECM) of type II collagen and proteoglycans, in an intertwining array. Water content in cartilage ranges from 70% to 80%. Approximately 60% of the dry weight of cartilage is collagen, with the remainder mostly being the proteoglycans (PG). It is now known that degradation of cartilage in an early osteoarthritic condition primarily involves the loss of the PG. We have imaged a healthy human knee using saline/agarose phantoms whose 23Na relaxation times have been normalized to cartilage. This allows the creation of a calibration curve to fit pixel intensities of the cartilage to in an effort to quantitate the signal. This sodium signal directly corresponds to the PG content in the cartilage, thereby providing a method to monitor tissue integrity. We are investigating the use of surface coils, a birdcage coil and a transmit only birdcage coil with surface receive coils. We are currently underway in a plan to determine sodium concentrations in several healthy human volunteers as well as subjects grouped by age.