ABSTRACT
Biochemistry, which is so vital if we are to understand MRS, is a lost art. Its principles are enshrined in several key textbooks, of which useful examples are given below, but few practitioners knowledgeable in the area of intermediary metabolism are found any more in biochemistry departments. MRS is the most powerful and versatile technique that we have for defining chemical species, molecular structure and the in vivo chemical environment. In a period of ever expanding interest in molecular diagnosis, MRS provides quantitative, noninvasive assays of metabolites from which many such diagnoses can be made.
