Abstract From 100 ml spherical glass bottles filled with aqueous solutions and suspended in a homogeneous magnetic field, NMR spectra with linewidths of about 0.7 Hz were achieved in single-pulse and multi-pulse spectra. A relatively wide receiver coil as the body coil or the standard head coil of the manufacturer were employed to acquire spectra after different non-localized pulse sequences. Examples of single-pulse spectra and double spin-echo spectra of aqueous solutions with lactate, citrate, or glucose are demonstrated and discussed. The fact that all experiments can be performed using well-defined pulse angles acting on the entire sample at the field strenght of the whole-body unit allows to determine the characteristics (e.g. chemical shift differences, coupling constants) of spin systems of biologically important molecules precisely, without need for additional spectrometers. Constant flip angles are advantageous for adequate theoretical analysis of spectra from coupled spin systems. The effects of a defined "misadjustment" of the transmitter on the spectra can be measured directly, whereas localized methods always yield a superposition of signals due to the distribution of flip angles inside the selected volume. In some cases, optimized sequence parameters for localized examinations in vivo can be derived numerically from the analyzed coupling data.
Improvement of sensitivity and specificity for laminar BOLD fMRI with double spin-echo EPI in humans at 7 T
