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Pros And Cons Of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging

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One of the central themes of biology is that structure and function are tied together.Typically, when a researcher looks at an entity such as a biomolecule, one of the most useful approaches is to gather information about its structure in order to gain insight to its functions and properties. One method of identifying the structure of a biomolecule is nuclear magnetic resonance imaging, otherwise known as NMR1. This process takes advantage of quantum mechanical principles and unique properties of atomic nuclei in order to infer information about the spatial relationship of every atom in the molecule. This is based on the interaction of each atom with an applied magnetic field. Unlike microscopy techniques, the NMR process does not …show more content…

The machines themselves are very expensive, such that they are not very present in the corporate world but rather at universities, being used for research. Plus, the analysis of the samples and computer modeling of them is very time consuming, adding to the total cost.
Despite it’s limitations and disadvantages, NMR is a very powerful technology. Very recently, scientists were using NMR spectroscopy to analyze metabolic changes in mice’s brains to try and figure out the mysteries of Alzheimer’s disease.
Alzheimer’s disease and the biochemical changes within the brain are still not totally understood. It is known however that glucose metabolism and dysfunction within the mitochondria play a key role. NMR was used to gain information on those alterations. One of the focuses was on the tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA cycle), which we talked about extensively in class. Those conducting the experiments were able to confirm previously known metabolic changes as well as finding decreases and increases in certain chemical concentrations which attribute to Alzheimer’s disease.
Although it is not any major finding, it is something that leads us one step closer to understanding Alzheimer’s disease and how it

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