7a) was 1/T1(0)=5.0±0.5×10-3s-1 in the two lungs. Neglecting the very small contribution of 129Xe gas phase interactions to the longitudinal relaxation, the oxygen independent term in the lung is essentially relaxation caused selleck inhibitor by relaxation of tissue-dissolved xenon that is in

rapid exchange with the gas phase. The average slope of the oxygen density dependent relaxation for the two rat lungs is in good agreement with Eq. (2). This agreement indicates that the presence of the excised lung did not strongly affect the hp 129Xe relaxation dependence on oxygen (i.e. compared to the bulk gas phase), despite tissue dissolved O2 and approximately 1–2% tissue dissolved xenon [32]. In any case, Extraction Scheme 2 enabled precise mixing of O2 with the hp gas during the extraction process and thus may be of use for future hp 129Xe measurements of in vivo oxygen partial pressures that provide lung functional information about oxygen exchange in lungs [33]. The effect of paramagnetic oxygen upon the 83Kr

relaxation behavior is shown in Fig. 7a and b. The oxygen density dependent 83Kr relaxation rates exhibited a slope that is approximately two orders of magnitude smaller than that for 129Xe: equation(5) 1T1ρO283Kr,(25%Kr,75%N2)290K,9.4T=0.002±0.0009s-1amagat-1 The vast difference in observed relaxation behavior between xenon and krypton due to the presence of paramagnetic oxygen were mostly caused by the difference in the square of the gyromagnetic ratios (γI)129Xe2/(γI)83Kr2≈51.9[34]. However, Selleck Gefitinib unlike the 129Xe–O2 pair [31] or the 3He–O2 interaction [35], the situation for 83Kr is complicated by quadrupolar relaxation that makes quantitative interpretation http://www.selleck.co.jp/products/pazopanib.html of the paramagnetic contributions difficult. As can be seen from the (zero oxygen

density) intercept in Fig. 7b, quadrupolar relaxation of gaseous 83Kr in a macroscopic container dominated over the paramagnetic contributions to the relaxation, at least for the investigated O2 concentrations. Quadrupolar relaxation (T1Q) arises from surface interactions [36], gas composition dependent van der Waals complexes, and gas pressure and composition dependent binary collisions [37] and [38]; as shown in following equation: equation(6) 1T1=1T1para+1T1surface+1T1vdW+1T1binary Due to quadrupolar relaxation, Eq. (5) is only valid for O2 added to the particular 25% krypton–75% N2 mixture because different krypton–nitrogen ratios will result to different (1/T1ρO2)83Kr(1/T1ρO2)83Kr values. Note that quadrupolar relaxation dominated over paramagnetic relaxation even in the macroscopic gas container with small S/V and concentrations of up to 40% O2. It should therefore come at no surprise that similar O2 concentrations did not affect the 83Kr relaxation in rat lungs where high S/V lead to T1≈1-1.2s[15]. Cryogenics free hp 129Xe and hp 83Kr production is feasible for biomedical MRI applications.