NMR of live systems

Continuous non-destructive in vivo biochemical measurements have been a desired but seemingly unattainable goal for many years. Now, however, the use of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) seems to be close to reaching that end. This review can be divided into two sections. The first introduces and discusses relevant NMR parameters such as chemical shift and relaxation times form the view of their application to biologic systems. The second part highlights recent achievements by showing the variety of chores NMR can perform. In particular, the topics of pH measurement, quantitation and identification of phosphorus and carbon metabolites, and enzyme kinetics are all discussed. Also mentioned are limitations of NMR such as low sensitivity. Finally, there is a discussion of the new NMR technologies such as whole body proton imaging and topical NMR.