Abstract
Known methods for the measurement of blood rheologic properties are usually too slow for fast screening purposes under clinical conditions. The correlation between the molecular mobility of solvent water molecules in aqueous protein solutions and the nuclear magnetic relaxation rate has been well established. In addition the closely related dynamics of molecular exchange between solvent water and the water attached to the surface of the protein chains provide a dominant contribution to the nuclear magnetic relaxation. Since nuclear magnetic relaxation rate measurements can be done within seconds and purely electro-magnetically without physical contact with the sample, they are proposed as a test method for the microdynamics in biological liquid systems. The clinical significance of blood plasma spin relaxation rates has therefore been tested on plasma samples of 260 patients and test persons with an easy to operate computerized NMR-apparatus. The correlation with the corresponding plasma viscosity values proved to be sufficient for the establishment of a critical value for 1/T2 indicating pathological conditions.
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