The NMR microscope: a unique and promising tool for plant science

An outline is given of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) microscopy and its application to plant science. An NMR microscope non-destructively detects free water in tissues and creates anatomical images of the tissues. Since the quantity and mobility of cell-associated water is closely related to the condition of the cells, H-NMR images represent physiological maps of the tissue. In addition, the technique locates soluble organic compounds accumulated in the tissues, such as sugars in vacuoles or fatty acids stored as oil droplets in vesicles. Na-23-NMR imaging is suitable for studying the physiology of salt-tolerant plants. Diffusion measurements provide information about the transport of substances and ions accompanied by water movement. The recently developed techniques of three-dimensional imaging, flow-encoded imaging and spectroscopic imaging open up new opportunities for plant biologists. The NMR microscope is thus a unique and promising tool for the study of living plant systems in relation to morphology, the true features of which are often lost during preparation for more conventional tissue analysis. (C) 2000 Annals of Botany Company.