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

Autor: Golini C; Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy., Barbieri M; Department of Radiology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA., Nagmutdinova A; Department of Civil, Chemical, Environmental and Material Engineering, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy., Bortolotti V; Department of Civil, Chemical, Environmental and Material Engineering, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy., Testa C; Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy., Brizi L; Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: NMR in biomedicine [NMR Biomed] 2025 Jan; Vol. 38 (1), pp. e5287. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Nov 07.
DOI: 10.1002/nbm.5287
Abstrakt: 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 component analysis statistical analysis. The large number of samples allowed for the identification of the smallest number of parameters or their combination able to classify samples. The first two components clustered the data according to the different zones, highlighting the sensitivity of the NMR parameters to the structural and compositional variations of AC. Using two parameters, the best result was obtained by considering T 1 and α. Single-sided NMR devices, portable and low-cost, provide information on NMR parameters related to tissue composition and structure.
(© 2024 The Author(s). NMR in Biomedicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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