Influence of Muscle Fiber Orientation on Water and Metabolite Relaxation Times, Magnetization Transfer, and Visibility in Human Skeletal Muscle

Purpose: To gain a deeper understanding of the influence of skeletal muscle fiber orientation on metabolite visibility, magnetization transfer from water, and water proton relaxation rates in H-1 MR spectra. Methods: Non-water-suppressed MR spectroscopy was performed in tibialis anterior muscle (TA) of 10 healthy adults, with the TA oriented either parallel or at the magic angle to the 3T field. Spectra were acquired with metabolite-cycled PRESS, and water inversion from 50 to 2510 ms before excitation. Water proton T-2 relaxation was sampled with STEAM with echo times from 12 to 272 ms. Results: Apparent concentrations of total creatine (tCr), taurine, and trimethylammonium compounds were reduced by 29% to 67% when TA was parallel to B-0. Both tCr peak areas were strongly correlated to the methylene peak splitting. Magnetization transfer rates from water to tCr CH3 were not significantly different between orientations. Water T(1)s were similar between orientations, but T(2)s were statistically significantly shorter by 1 ms in the parallel orientation (P = 0.002). Conclusion: Muscle metabolite visibilities in MR spectroscopy and water T-2 times depend substantially on muscle fiber orientation relative to B-0. In contrast, magnetization transfer rates appear to depend on muscle composition, rather than fiber orientation. (C) 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.