A comparative analysis of the NMR relaxation times of two human colon cancer cell lines.

Two human colon cancer cell lines grown in tissue culture were found to have significantly different Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) relaxation times of water protons in the fresh, intact state and after fragmentation into subcellular fractions. Differences in the protein composition of the subcellular fractions were also demonstrated by protein analysis and gel chromatography. In further studies, these cell lines may be useful to investigate the biochemical basis for the disparity in relaxation times of water protons between tissues which constitutes the basis for Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) tissue contrast.