Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and the study of tissue oxygen metabolism: a review.

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques are being increasingly utilised as an in vivo method to monitor tissue oxygen concentration in various organs. In muscle and heart, proton NMR spectroscopy of myoglobin has been used to calculate local oxygen tension through the oxygen sensitivity of the histidine group signal intensity. Similarly, spin lattice relaxation times of perfluorocarbon emulsions are oxygen sensitive, and this property has been taken advantage of to produce oxygen maps of brain by fluorine NMR imaging. Phosphorus NMR spectroscopy has also been extensively used to monitor bioenergetic state, which under some conditions, is directly related to tissue oxygen tension. This review will focus on these NMR techniques for oxygen determination, and will critically assess their utility for further studies.