Anisotropy of spin-spin and spin-lattice relaxation times in liquids entrapped in nanocavities: Application to MRI study of biological systems

Spin-spin and spin-lattice relaxations in liquid or gas entrapped in nanosized ellipsoidal cavities with different orientation ordering are theoretically investigated. The model is flexible in order to be applied to explain experimental results in cavities with various forms, from very prolate up to oblate ones, and different degree of ordering of nanocavities. In the framework of the considered model, the dipole-dipole interaction is determined by a single coupling constant, which depends on the form, size, and orientation of the cavity and number of nuclear spins in the cavity. It was shown that the transverse and longitudinal relaxation rates differently depend on the angle between the external magnetic field and cavity main axis. The calculation results for the local dipolar field, transverse and longitudinal relaxation times explain the angular dependencies observed in MRI experiments with biological objects: cartilage and tendon. Microstructure of these tissues can be characterized by the standard deviation of the Gaussian distribution of fibril orientations. The comparison of the theoretical and experimental results shows that the value of the standard deviation obtained at the matching of the calculation to experimental results can be used as a parameter characterizing the disorder in the biological sample.