Abstract
Partial 23Na MRI invisibility in muscle foods is often referred to as an inherent drawback of the MRItechnique, impairing quantitative sodium analysis. Several model samples were designed tosimulate muscle foods with a broad variation in protein, fat, moisture, and salt content. 23Naspin-echo MRI and a recently developed 23Na SPRITE MRI approach were compared forquantitative sodium imaging, demonstrating the possibility of accurate quantitative 23Na MRI bythe latter method. Good correlations with chemically determined standards were also obtained frombulk 23Na free induction decay (FID) and CPMG relaxation experiments on the same sample set,indicating their potential use for rapid bulk NaCl measurements. Thus, the sodium MRI invisibility isa methodological problem that can easily be circumvented by using the SPRITE MRI technique