Measurement of the longitudinal relaxation time in the rotating frame of reference (T1ρ) is sensitive to the fidelity of the main imaging magnetic field (B0) and that of the RF pulse (B1). The purpose of this study was to introduce methods for producing continuous wave (CW) T1ρ contrast with improved robustness against field inhomogeneities and to compare the sensitivities of several existing and the novel T1ρ contrast generation methods with the B0 and B1 field inhomogeneities. Four hard‐pulse and four adiabatic CW‐T1ρ magnetization preparations were investigated. Bloch simulations and experimental measurements at different spin‐lock amplitudes under ideal and non‐ideal conditions, as well as theoretical analysis of the hard‐pulse preparations, were conducted to assess the sensitivity of the methods to field inhomogeneities, at low (ω1 << ΔB0) and high (ω1 >> ΔB0) spin‐locking field strengths. In simulations, previously reported single‐refocus and new triple‐refocus hard‐pulse and double‐refocus adiabatic preparation schemes were found to be the most robust. The mean normalized absolute deviation between the experimentally measured relaxation times under ideal and non‐ideal conditions was found to be smallest for the refocused preparation schemes and broadly in agreement with the sensitivities observed in simulations. Experimentally, all refocused preparations performed better than those that were non‐refocused. The findings promote the use of the previously reported hard‐pulse single‐refocus ΔB0 and B1 insensitive T1ρ as a robust method with minimal RF energy deposition. The double‐refocus adiabatic B1 insensitive rotation‐4 CW‐T1ρ preparation offers further improved insensitivity to field variations, but because of the extra RF deposition, may be preferred for ex vivo applications.

The aim of this study is to assess whether articular cartilage changes in an equine model of post‐traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA), induced by surgical creation of standard (blunt) grooves, and very subtle sharp grooves, could be detected with ex vivo T1 relaxation time mapping utilizing three‐dimensional (3D) readout sequence with zero echo time. Grooves were made on the articular surfaces of the middle carpal and radiocarpal joints of nine mature Shetland ponies and osteochondral samples were harvested at 39 weeks after being euthanized under respective ethical permissions. T1 relaxation times of the samples (n = 8 + 8 for experimental and n = 12 for contralateral controls) were measured with a variable flip angle 3D multiband‐sweep imaging with Fourier transform sequence. Equilibrium and instantaneous Young's moduli and proteoglycan (PG) content from OD of Safranin‐O‐stained histological sections were measured and utilized as reference parameters for the T1 relaxation times. T1 relaxation time was significantly (p < 0.05) increased in both groove areas, particularly in the blunt grooves, compared with control samples, with the largest changes observed in the superficial half of the cartilage. T1 relaxation times correlated weakly (Rs ≈ 0.33) with equilibrium modulus and PG content (Rs ≈ 0.21). T1 relaxation time in the superficial articular cartilage is sensitive to changes induced by the blunt grooves but not to the much subtler sharp grooves, at the 39‐week timepoint post‐injury. These findings support that T1 relaxation time has potential in detection of mild PTOA, albeit the most subtle changes could not be detected.

In this study, we examined the variation in T1 relaxation times in a mild OA model of surgically grooved (sharp and blunt) articular cartilage of equine carpal joints. The study revealed that T1 relaxation time is significantly increased in bluntly-grooved cartilage with respect to control cartilage. No significant differences between sharply-grooved and control groups were seen for T1 relaxation. Moreover, strong variations in T1 relaxation times and proteoglycan (PG) contents were observed in the superficial half of the cartilage. T1 relaxation times correlated weakly (R&asymp;0.33) with equilibrium mechanical modulus and with PG content (R&asymp;0.23).