Abstract #2519

Sinha T, Luci J, Cornett D, Shahidi S, Dawant B, Gore J, Caprioli R

Quantitative values of tissue NMR parameters, such as relaxation rates, are directly related to biomolecular composition, and variations of these account for much of the useful contrast available from MRI. We present here a new method to spatially correlate MR relaxation parameters with a myelin map generated from a matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometer (MALDI-MS) run in imaging mode at near MR resolution. Good spatial correlation of the known apparent T1 and T2 of white matter with myelin content is demonstrated.