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Abstract #0670

In Vivo Measurement of the Longitudinal Relaxation Time of Arterial Blood (T1a) in the Mouse using a Pulsed Arterial Spin Labeling Approach

Ordidge R, Gadian D, Lythgoe M, Thomas D
University College London

A novel method for the measurement of the longitudinal relaxation time of arterial blood (T1a) is presented. The standard FAIR acquisition scheme was modified by incorporating a global saturation pulse before the recovery period. By doing this, the FAIR tissue signal has a monoexponential dependence on recovery time, with T1a as the time constant. Therefore, T1a can be calculated from FAIR measurements performed over a range of recovery times. This eliminates many of the difficulties associated with the measurement of T1a. Experiments performed in the mouse at 2.35T produced a mean value of 1.51s for T1a, consistent with published values.