Study of anisotropy in nuclear magnetic resonance relaxation times of water protons in skeletal muscle.

The anisotropy of the spin-lattice relaxation time (T1) and the spin-spin relaxation times (T2) of water protons in skeletal muscle tissue have been studied by the spin-echo technique. Both T1 and T2 have been measured for the water protons of the tibialis anterior muscle of mature male rats for theta = 0, 55, and 90 degrees, where theta is the orientation of the muscle fiber with respect to the static field. The anisotropy in T1 and T2 has been measured at temperatures of 28, -5 and -10 degrees C. No significant anisotropy was observed in the T1 of the tissue water, while an average anisotropy of approximately 5% was observed in T2 at room temperature. The average anisotropy of T2 at -5 and -10 degrees C was found to be approximately 2 and 1.3%, respectively.