Single-quantum sodium MRI at 3 T for separation of mono- and bi-T2 sodium signals
Abstract Sodium magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is highly sensitive to cellular ionic balance due to tenfold difference in sodium concentration across membranes, actively maintained by the sodium–potassium (Na+-K+) pump. Disruptions in this pump or membrane integrity, as seen in neurological disord...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-07-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-07800-1 |
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| author | Yongxian Qian Ying-Chia Lin Xingye Chen Yulin Ge Yvonne W. Lui Fernando E. Boada |
| author_facet | Yongxian Qian Ying-Chia Lin Xingye Chen Yulin Ge Yvonne W. Lui Fernando E. Boada |
| author_sort | Yongxian Qian |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Sodium magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is highly sensitive to cellular ionic balance due to tenfold difference in sodium concentration across membranes, actively maintained by the sodium–potassium (Na+-K+) pump. Disruptions in this pump or membrane integrity, as seen in neurological disorders like epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, bipolar disease, and mild traumatic brain injury, lead to increased intracellular sodium. However, this cellular-level alteration is often masked by the dominant extracellular sodium signal, making it challenging to distinguish sodium populations with mono- vs. bi-exponential transverse (T2) decays—especially given the low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) even at an advanced clinical field of 3 Tesla. Here, we propose a novel technique that leverages intrinsic difference in T2 decays by acquiring single-quantum images at multiple echo times (TEs) and applying voxel-wise matrix inversion for accurate signal separation. Using numerical models, agar phantoms, and human subjects, we achieved high separation accuracy in phantoms (95.8% for mono-T2 and 72.5–80.4% for bi-T2) and demonstrated clinical feasibility in humans. This approach may enable early detection of neurological disorders and early assessment of treatment responses at the cellular level using sodium MRI at 3 T. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-6588acca7d544e248d1ccf55711c2d96 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj-art-6588acca7d544e248d1ccf55711c2d962025-08-20T04:03:02ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222025-07-0115111410.1038/s41598-025-07800-1Single-quantum sodium MRI at 3 T for separation of mono- and bi-T2 sodium signalsYongxian Qian0Ying-Chia Lin1Xingye Chen2Yulin Ge3Yvonne W. Lui4Fernando E. Boada5Bernard and Irene Schwartz Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, New York University Grossman School of MedicineBernard and Irene Schwartz Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, New York University Grossman School of MedicineBernard and Irene Schwartz Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, New York University Grossman School of MedicineBernard and Irene Schwartz Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, New York University Grossman School of MedicineBernard and Irene Schwartz Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, New York University Grossman School of MedicineBernard and Irene Schwartz Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, New York University Grossman School of MedicineAbstract Sodium magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is highly sensitive to cellular ionic balance due to tenfold difference in sodium concentration across membranes, actively maintained by the sodium–potassium (Na+-K+) pump. Disruptions in this pump or membrane integrity, as seen in neurological disorders like epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, bipolar disease, and mild traumatic brain injury, lead to increased intracellular sodium. However, this cellular-level alteration is often masked by the dominant extracellular sodium signal, making it challenging to distinguish sodium populations with mono- vs. bi-exponential transverse (T2) decays—especially given the low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) even at an advanced clinical field of 3 Tesla. Here, we propose a novel technique that leverages intrinsic difference in T2 decays by acquiring single-quantum images at multiple echo times (TEs) and applying voxel-wise matrix inversion for accurate signal separation. Using numerical models, agar phantoms, and human subjects, we achieved high separation accuracy in phantoms (95.8% for mono-T2 and 72.5–80.4% for bi-T2) and demonstrated clinical feasibility in humans. This approach may enable early detection of neurological disorders and early assessment of treatment responses at the cellular level using sodium MRI at 3 T.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-07800-1 |
| spellingShingle | Yongxian Qian Ying-Chia Lin Xingye Chen Yulin Ge Yvonne W. Lui Fernando E. Boada Single-quantum sodium MRI at 3 T for separation of mono- and bi-T2 sodium signals Scientific Reports |
| title | Single-quantum sodium MRI at 3 T for separation of mono- and bi-T2 sodium signals |
| title_full | Single-quantum sodium MRI at 3 T for separation of mono- and bi-T2 sodium signals |
| title_fullStr | Single-quantum sodium MRI at 3 T for separation of mono- and bi-T2 sodium signals |
| title_full_unstemmed | Single-quantum sodium MRI at 3 T for separation of mono- and bi-T2 sodium signals |
| title_short | Single-quantum sodium MRI at 3 T for separation of mono- and bi-T2 sodium signals |
| title_sort | single quantum sodium mri at 3 t for separation of mono and bi t2 sodium signals |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-07800-1 |
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