Times of magnetic relaxation of protons of tumour and normal cells

The method of n.m.r. spectroscopy has been used for in vitro study of cell cultures in heavy water. The relaxation times have been determined for the L-cells 929, HeLa, transformed and normal cells of the human embryo, C₃H mouse cells and Yoshida sarcoma cells and tissues. It has been established that the spin-lattice and spin-spin relaxation times are characteristic of each cell and quite markedly differ from the times for the corresponding tissues, which may be used to identify the cells by the n.m.r. method ("n.m.r.-cytology"). The authors demonstrate the existence of an ordered fraction of water in the cells which very slowly exchanges with the surrounding water.