Nuclear magnetic resonance relaxation and water contents in normal mouse and rat tissues and in cancer cells.

By studying nuclear magnetic resonance water proton spin-lattice relaxation times (T1 and T2) of normal mouse and rat tissues at varying water contents and by comparing the data with those obtained from five types of cancer cells in ascites form, we concluded that differences in total water contents between normal tissues and cancer cells contribute less than 10% to the differences between the longer T1 of cancer cells as compared to the T1 of normal tissues. In spite of the diverse origin of the five types of cancer cells studied, their T1 and T2 as well as water contents were confined within relatively narrow limits. We suggested that all 5 ascites tumors studied are maximally deviated and that the physical state of the water in all maximally deviated cancer cells is very similar.