APPLICATIONS OF MOLECULAR MAGNETISM TO BIOMEDICINE New contrast media for magnetic resonance imaging

摘要

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a non-invasive technique based on the spatial encoding of nuclei with a spin quantum number different from zero. This method presented in the early seventies by Lauterbur [1] quickly became one of the most powerful diagnostic tools for radiologists. Its field of applications is however not limited to medicine and it nowadays extends to material science, biology, food industry, among others. Contrary to high resolution spectroscopy which requires extremely homogeneous fields, this NMR methodology takes advantage of carefully controlled magnetic field gradients which spread out the Larmor frequencies of the nuclei according to their spatial localization [2,3].