McCain D C, Markley J L
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg 39406.
J Struct Biol. 1992 May-Jun;108(3):195-201. doi: 10.1016/1047-8477(92)90019-7.
A new imaging technique is described which uses nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to create a water profile of plant leaves. The water profile shows the average distribution of water as a function of depth into a leaf along a line perpendicular to the leaf surface; it can be used to measure the thickness of cell layers and the quantity of water in each layer. Two-dimensional NMR methods were used to avoid chemical shift distortion which degrades the resolution in leaf images made by conventional NMR techniques; image resolution was improved further by deconvolution analysis. To illustrate its application, the technique was used to follow changes in the internal structure of developing leaves.
