Preliminary observations of transverse relaxation rates obtained at 3 Tesla from the substantia nigra of adult normal human brain

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Abstract
The transverse relaxation rates R2 and R*2 were measured at 3 T in the substantia nigra of the midbrain of adult normal human controls. The relaxation rate arising from magnetic inhomogeneities, R2′, was calculated from the relationship R*2=R2+R2′. No significant differences were found for any parameters between left and right side substantia nigral regions, however, a significant inverse correlation was found between R2 and R2′ (r=0.70, p=0.035). Water diffusion, in the presence of paramagnetic metal ions, may play a role in determining the relative contributions to reversible and irreversible transverse relaxation and may explain the inverse correlation demonstrated here.