PROTON-RESONANCE IMAGING AND RELAXATION IN RAW AND COOKED HEN EGGS

In-vivo proton magnetic resonance imaging and relaxation time measurem ents were carried out on raw and cooked eggs. The relaxation time meas urements revealed several interesting results. While there was very li ttle change in the T-1 values between the raw and cooked egg,white, th e T-2 values followed the decreasing trend expected of water becoming bound, However, both the CH2 and CH3 moieties of the yolk lipids regis tered a statistically significant increase in their relaxation times. The T-2 of the CH2 group, in particular, increased by 113% in the cook ed egg. No striking changes, however, were observed between the proton images of the raw and cooked eggs. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Inc.