Flip-flop method: A new T1-weighted flow-MRI for plants studies

Simon Buy (1, 2) , Simon Le Floch (3) , Ning Tang (4) , Rahima Sidiboulenouar (1) , Michel Zanca (1) , Patrick Cañadas (3) , Eric Nativel , Maida Cardoso (1) , Guillaume Dupont (1) , Dominique Ambard (3) , Christophe Maurel (4) , Jean-Luc Verdeil (5) , Nadia Bertin (2) , Christophe Goze-Bac (1) , Christophe Coillot (1)

1 L2C - Laboratoire Charles Coulomb
2 PSH - Unité de recherche Plantes et Systèmes de Culture Horticoles
3 BIOTIC - Biomécanique des Interactions et de l'Organisation des Tissus et des Cellules
4 BPMP - Biochimie et Physiologie Moléculaire des Plantes
5 UMR AGAP - Amélioration génétique et adaptation des plantes méditerranéennes et tropicales

The climate warming implies an increase of stress of plants (drought and torrential rainfall). The understanding of plant behavior, in this context, takes a major importance and sap flow measurement in plants remains a key issue for plant understanding. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) which is well known to be a powerful tool to access water quantity can be used to measure moving water. We describe a novel flow-MRI method which takes advantage of inflow slice sensitivity. The method involves the slice selectivity in the context of multi slice spin echo sequence. Two sequences such as a given slice is consecutively inflow and outflow sensitive are performed, offering the possiblility to perform slow flow sensitive imaging in a quite straigthforward way. The method potential is demonstrated by imaging both a slow flow measurement on a test bench (as low as 10 μm.s−1) and the Poiseuille’s profile of xylemian sap flow velocity in the xylematic tissues of a tomato plant stem.

Domaines: Electronique

Simon Buy, Simon Le Floch, Ning Tang, Rahima Sidiboulenouar, Michel Zanca, et al.. Flip-flop method: A new T1-weighted flow-MRI for plants studies. PLoS ONE, 2018, 13 (3), ⟨10.1371/journal.pone.0194845⟩. ⟨hal-01762920⟩