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13 Feb 2008
Arthritis pain could be identified and treated earlier in future with the development of new technology.
Scientists at New York and Tel Aviv Universities have been working on a non-invasive imaging method that can be used to monitor diseases including osteoarthritis in its earliest stages.
Published in the journal Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers looked at molecules that serve as the building blocks of cartilage, called glycosaminogycans (GAGs).
The team considered whether proton exchange in GAGs could allow concentrations of the molecule to be better measured by a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner.
They found that by separating out the GAG protons from those of water in the body, they could then use them as a contrast agent for imaging in the scanning process.
The discovery paves the way for advancements in GAG monitoring as traditional MRI scanners cannot directly map concentrations of GAG in the body.
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