Much progress in nuclear magnetic resonance microscope has been made in the last few years as a result of improved instrumentation and techniques being made available through basic research in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technologies for medicine. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) was first observed in the hydrogen nucleus in water by Bloch, Purcell and Pound over 40 years ago. Today, in medicine, virtually all commercial MRI scans are made of water bound in tissue. This is also true for NMR microscopy, which has focussed mainly on biological applications. The reason water is the favored molecule for NMR is because water is,the most abundant molecule in biology. It is also the most NMR sensitive having the largest nuclear magnetic moment and having reasonable room temperature relaxation times (from 10 ms to 3 sec). The contrast seen in magnetic resonance images is due mostly to distribution of water relaxation times in sample which are extremely sensitive to the local environment.
Altered relaxation times in MRI indicate bronchopulmonary dysplasia