In this work, focused on the cryogenics free hp gas extraction and transfer steps, the maximum apparent polarization of the noble gas was found to be Papp≈14%Papp≈14% for 129Xe and approximately Papp = 3.5% for 83Kr using only 23.3 W laser power incident at the SEOP cell. The volume of the hp gas was ∼18 ml after 6 min SEOP for

hp 129Xe and ∼34 ml after 8 min SEOP for hp 83Kr. The explored methodology was based on stopped flow SEOP and larger volumes per unit time require either the usage of larger SEOP cells and higher laser power. Alternatively, many SEOP units can be run in parallel. Furthermore, polarization can be further improved through higher than the 23.3 W of laser power used in this work. Simple pH based tests indicated on the minimal rubidium content of the ambient pressure hp gas to be minimal despite the absence of gas filters used during selleck screening library RG7204 concentration the hp gas extraction. The presented methodology therefore allows for a simplified and, with higher laser power becoming more readily available, potentially low cost hp 129Xe production method. The generated polarization Papp and the volume

of hp gas were sufficient for slice selective, coronal hp 129Xe MR images of excised rodent lungs in a single inhalation cycle. The methodology is crucial for hp 83Kr MRI and single inhalation cycle images using isotopically enriched 83Kr were obtained. An extraction scheme utilizing a single cycle piston pump was shown to accomplish efficient hp 83Kr gas extraction that preserved Papp at a high level. In comparison TCL a much simpler inflatable balloon based extraction

scheme was found to be remarkably efficient for hp 129Xe extraction. For both noble gases, the piston pump based extraction scheme allowed for precise mixing of the hp gas with a selected quantity of oxygen. This procedure may be helpful for in vivo   studies, such as oxygen partial pressure measurements in lungs. Excised lung data suggests that the 129Xe T  1 relaxation dependence on the O2 concentration is very similar to that found in the bulk gas phase. In the absence of O2, the 129Xe T  1 relaxation within the excised lungs was T1(0)=200±20s. Furthermore, the method enabled the first quantitative bulk gas phase measurement of 83Kr longitudinal relaxation as a function of O2 concentration. It was found that 83Kr is approximately two orders of magnitude less sensitive to the presence of O2 than 129Xe. The low-pressure batch-mode Rb-SEOP method used in these experiments is similar to the one described in detail in Ref. [10]. In this work, 23.3 W of circularly polarized laser light was incident at the front of the SEOP cell (Fig. 2a). All gases used were research grade: Kr (99.995% pure; natural abundance, 11.5% 83Kr; Airgas, Rednor, PA, USA), Xe (99.995% pure; natural abundance, 26.4% 129Xe; Nova Gas Technologies, Charleston, SC, USA), isotopically enriched Kr (enriched to 99.