NMR and the study of pathological state in cells and tissues.

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). These techniques are used for metabolic studies of cells and living tissues for several years. The NMR process can be described from either a classical or a quantum mechanical perspective. The classical approach is used for visualization of experiments and elucidation of challenges, particularly considering isolated spins. Quantum mechanical descriptions are necessary for detailed explanations in more complicated systems. The magnetism of some compounds (organic and inorganic), when they are placed in a strong magnetic field, arises from the magnetic moments of nuclei in the compound. Some of the observed parameters in NMR include chemical shift, spin coupling and spin decoupling, relaxation times, peak intensity, and spin echo. The ease in selecting analytical conditions to gain information from a wide range of endogenous metabolites and xenobiotics makes NMR a powerful technique. There are three possible approaches to cell studies—namely, cellular extraction, cellular suspensions, and perfusion of intact cells. Perfused intact cells may represent the best ex vivo approach to the noninvasive study of metabolism.