Fast NMR flow measurements in plants using FLASH imaging.

A fast method for quantitative NMR imaging of flow velocities in intact plants is described. The purpose of this method is to observe dynamic changes of flow velocity in the xylem of plants after fast changes of environmental conditions. The spatial image resolution is 47 x 188 micrometer(2) in-plane. The method applies a fast gradient echo sequence (FLASH). Compared to other flow NMR imaging sequences, the imaging time was reduced by a factor of 6 with comparable signal-to-noise ratio. A complete flow measurement consists of a set of 8 different flow weighted images with a total acquisition time of 3.5 min.