Depth‐wise multiparametric assessment of articular cartilage layers with single‐sided NMR

作者：Carlo Golini, Marco Barbieri, Anastasiia Nagmutdinova, Villiam Bortolotti, Claudia Testa, Leonardo Brizi · 发表于：NMR in Biomedicine · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.1002/nbm.5287 · 被引用次数：3 · 研究领域：Osteoarthritis Treatment and Mechanisms、Advanced MRI Techniques and Applications、NMR spectroscopy and applications

Abstract Articular cartilage (AC) is a specialized connective tissue that covers the ends of long bones and facilitates the load‐bearing of joints. It consists of chondrocytes distributed throughout an extracellular matrix and organized into three zones: superficial, middle, and deep. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques can be used to characterize this layered structure. In this study, devoted to a better understanding of the NMR response of this complex tissue, 20 specimens excised from femoral and tibial cartilage of bovine samples were analyzed by the low‐field single‐sided NMR‐MOUSE‐PM10. A multiparametric depth‐wise analysis was performed to characterize the laminar structure of AC and investigate the origin of the NMR dependence on depth. The depth dependence of the single parameters T 1 , T 2 , and D has been described in literature, but their simultaneous measurement has not been fully exploited yet, as well as the extent of their variability. A novel parameter, α , evaluated by applying a double‐quantum‐like sequence, has been measured. The significant decrease in T 1 , T 2 , and D from the middle to the deep zone is consistent with depth‐dependent composition and structure changes of the complex matrix of fibers confining and interacting with water. The α parameter appears to be a robust marker of the layered structure with a well‐reproducible monotonic trend across the zones. The discrimination of cartilage zones was reinforced by a multivariate principal c...