Proton magnetic resonance (PMR) studies of water in dimethyl sulfoxide perfused rat myocardium.

Time-dependent studies of the PMR linewidths and spin-lattice relaxation times (T1) of rat myocardium perfused with chemically-defined tissue culture medium containing 15% dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) (v/v) were performed. In comparison with "normal" myocardium samples and samples from hearts perfused without DSMO, linewidths initially increased following perfusion of the hearts with 15% DMSO solution. However, the increase was observable only during the first five minutes following perfusion, subsequently narrowing considerably. A minimum T1 was obtained 30 minutes post-treatment. The experiments indicate translocation of intracellular water into bulk-like presumably extracellular water, thus suggesting a cellular dehydration effect of DMSO.