In order to better see certain features in MRI scans, patients are often injected with gadolinium-based contrast agents. They seem fairly innocuous for healthy people, but young children and those with poorly functioning kidneys can be seriously affected. Side effects such as vomiting and diarrhea can create further problems for an already sick patient. Scientists from MIT and the University of Nebraska have been working to develop an MRI contrast agent that does not use gadolinium metal, but that instead relies on organic nitroxide compounds.
Just reported on in journal ACS Central Science, the metal-free nitroxide-functionalized brush-arm star polymer organic radical contrast agents (BASP-ORCAs) are both bright under MRI and don’t wash away as quickly as previously developed nitroxide-based agents. This makes them very applicable to spotting tumors, as achieving high enough concentrations of a contrast agent for long enough is a key to making it properly visible during imaging. It may also be useful in detecting whether an anticancer drug is working in the first few days after administration.
Additionally, the contrast agent may also end up being utilized to ferry drugs and seek out tumors using targeted antibodies, which, combined with simultaneous imaging may result in a very powerful tool to diagnose, monitor, and kill cancers.
Study in journal ACS Central Science: Nitroxide-Based Macromolecular Contrast Agents with Unprecedented Transverse Relaxivity and Stability for Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Tumors…
Via: MIT…