Anisotropy of NMR properties of tissues.

Orientational anisotropy of T2 and T1 relaxation times, diffusion, and magnetization transfer has been investigated for six different tissues: tendon, cartilage, kidney, muscle, white matter, and optic nerve. Relaxation anisotropy was observed for tendon and cartilage, and diffusional anisotropy was measured in kidney, muscle, white matter, and optic nerve. All other NMR measurements of these tissues showed no orientational dependence. This pattern of NMR anisotropies can be interpreted from the underlying geometrical structures of the tissues.