PurposeThere is limited knowledge about the associations between sodium and proton MRI measurements in brain tumors. The purpose of this study was to quantify intra- and intertumoral correlations between sodium, diffusion, and perfusion MRI in human gliomas.MethodsTwenty glioma patients were prospectively studied on a 3T MRI system with multinuclear capabilities. Three mutually exclusive tumor volumes of interest (VOIs) were segmented: contrast-enhancing tumor (CET), T2/FLAIR hyperintense non-enhancing tumor (NET), and necrosis. Median and voxel-wise associations between apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), normalized relative cerebral blood volume (nrCBV), and normalized sodium measurements were quantified for each VOI.ResultsBoth relative sodium concentration and ADC were significantly higher in areas of necrosis compared to NET (P= 0.003 andP= 0.008, respectively) and CET (P= 0.02 andP= 0.02). Sodium concentration was higher in CET compared to NET (P= 0.04). Sodium and ADC were higher in treated compared to treatment-naïve gliomas within NET (P= 0.006 andP= 0.01, respectively), and ADC was elevated in CET (P= 0.03). Median ADC and sodium concentration were positively correlated across patients in NET (r = 0.77,P< 0.0001) and CET (r = 0.84,P< 0.0001), but not in areas of necrosis (r = 0.45,P= 0.12). Median nrCBV and sodium concentration were negatively correlated across patients in areas of NET (r=-0.63,P= 0.003). Similar associations were observed when examining voxel-wise correlations within VOIs.ConclusionSodium MRI is positively correlated with proton diffusion MRI measurements in gliomas, likely reflecting extracellular water. Unique areas of multinuclear MRI contrast may be useful in future studies to understand the chemistry of the tumor microenvironment.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11060-023-04363-x.