NMR RELAXATION OF WATER PROTONS UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF PROTEINS AND OTHER LINEAR POLYMERS

The concept that water in living cells may exist in a physical state different from that of normal liquid water'-5 stimulated consider-able interest in the nuclear magnetic reson-ance (NMR) relaxation times of water pro-tons in living cells,6- ' (for review, see ref. 9). The low Tl and T2, as well as the high ratio of Tl/T2 observed in living cells, led some scientists to the belief that the NMR data lent direct support to the association-induction hypothesis, according to which all or nearly all cell water exists in a state of polarized multilayers (PM W). Subsequent investigations, however, led many to a different conclusion. It was argue