A method to distinguish between chemical shift and susceptibility effects in NMR microscopy and its application to insect larvae

We propose a simple method of distinguishing Zeeman broadening arising from susceptibility inhomogeneity and chemical shift variation, applicable to NMR microscopy. The method is based on the use of a specially built probehead in which orthogonal sample alignment is possible using the same radiofrequency (RF) coil. This allows the investigation of alignment effects in image distortion and relies on the fact that the isotropic chemical shift is invariant under reorientation, whereas the susceptibility-related local field will depend strongly on relative orientation of bounding surfaces with the external polarizing field. We apply this approach to the study of a simple phantom, and an insect larva (Spodoptera litura Fabricius), demonstrating in the latter case that susceptibility variations are sufficiently small to allow chemical shift imaging on a scale greater than 1 ppm.