Orientation dependence of R relaxation in the newborn brain.

In MRI the transverse relaxation rate, R = 1/T shows dependence on the orientation of ordered tissue relative to the main magnetic field. In previous studies, orientation effects of R relaxation in the mature brain's white matter have been found to be described by a susceptibility-based model of diffusion through local magnetic field inhomogeneities created by the diamagnetic myelin sheaths. Orientation effects in human newborn white matter have not yet been investigated.