A comprehensive approach to the analysis and interpretation of the resonances of spins 3/2 from living systems.

An extensive protocol for the study of tissue resonances of spin 3/2 nuclei is described. The roles of the most relevant multiple pulse experiments are indicated. Their theory is organized in terms of irreducible tensor operators and the pulse and quadrupolar relaxation transfer functions which relate them for a type c spectrum. A systematic approach to the interpretation of the temperature and/or magnetic field dependences of all six of the relaxation rate constants of the resonance of a single population of isolated spins in fast exchange, and giving rise to a type c spectrum, is presented. An experimental calibration and an application of this protocol are presented in an accompanying paper. The comprehensive method we describe has a number of practical benefits in the interpretation of the physiological spectra obtained from conventional one pulse experiments. A consideration of the appropriate transverse relaxation transfer function leads to an analytical expression for the heretofore empirical NMR visibility factor. This includes factors which account for relaxation during the receiver 'dead' time and relaxation during the pulse itself. Also, consideration of realistic transverse relaxation times likely to be observed in tissue leads to a reasonable strategy for the quantitative resolution and integration of in vivo spectra obtained in the presence of hyperfine shift reagents.