Calcium plays a vital role in the human body and especially in the central nervous system. Precise maintenance of Ca2+ levels is very crucial for normal cell physiology and health. The deregulation of calcium homeostasis can lead to neuronal cell death and brain damage. To study this functional role played by Ca2+ in the brain noninvasively by using magnetic resonance imaging, we have synthesized a new set of Ca2+‐sensitive smart contrast agents (CAs). The agents were found to be highly selective to Ca2+ in the presence of other competitive anions and cations in buffer and in physiological fluids. The structure of CAs comprises Gd3+‐DO3A (DO3A=1,4,7‐tris(carboxymethyl)‐1,4,7,10‐tetraazacyclododecane) coupled to a Ca2+ chelator o‐amino phenol‐N,N,O‐triacetate (APTRA). The agents are designed to sense Ca2+ present in extracellular fluid of the brain where its concentration is relatively high, that is, 1.2–0.8 mM . The determined dissociation constant of the CAs to Ca2+ falls in the range required to sense and report changes in extracellular Ca2+ levels followed by an increase in neural activity. In buffer, with the addition of Ca2+ the increase in relaxivity ranged from 100–157 %, the highest ever known for any T1‐based Ca2+‐sensitive smart CA. The CAs were analyzed extensively by the measurement of luminescence lifetime measurement on Tb3+ analogues, nuclear magnetic relaxation dispersion (NMRD), and 17O NMR transverse relaxation and shift experiments. The results obtained confirmed that the large relaxivity enhancement observed upon Ca2+ addition is due to the increase of the hydration state of the complexes together with the slowing down of the molecular rotation and the retention of a significant contribution of the water molecules of the second sphere of hydration. 相似文献
Chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) MRI has recently emerged as a versatile molecular imaging approach in which diamagnetic compounds can be utilized to generate an MRI signal. To expand the scope of CEST MRI applications, herein, we systematically investigated the CEST properties of N-aryl amides with different N-aromatic substitution, revealing their chemical shifts (4.6–5.8 ppm) and exchange rates (up to thousands s−1) are favorable to be used as CEST agents as compared to alkyl amides. As the first proof-of-concept study, we used CEST MRI to detect the enzymatic metabolism of the drug acebutolol directly by its intrinsic CEST signal without any chemical labeling. Our study implies that N-aryl amides may enable the label-free CEST MRI detection of the metabolism of many N-aryl amide-containing drugs and a variety of enzymes that act on N-aryl amides, greatly expanding the scope of CEST MR molecular imaging. 相似文献
Iron oxide nanoparticles as contrast agents are reported to effectively improve magnetic resonance imaging of tissues and cells. In this work, cleaved iron oxide nanoparticles (CIONPs) were generated from hydrophobic FeO nanoparticles (HIONPs) by coating their surfaces with PEG‐phospholipids, oxidizing them under water, and slowly removing the residual FeO phase in phthalate buffer. The synthesized CIONPs showed good r2 values of up to 258 s?1 mM ?1. Thus, the CIONPs can be employed as vectors for drug delivery due to their unique structure with an empty inner space, which enables their use in a wide range of applications. 相似文献
The novel amphipilic conjugate of a calix[4]arene with four Gd–1,4,7,10‐ tetra(carboxymethyl)‐1,4,7,10‐tetraazacyclododecane (DOTA) chelates has potential as a magnetic resonance imaging contrast agent, both in its monomeric and in its micellar form. The system, illustrated here with its nuclear magnetic relaxation profile, shows good relaxivities, thanks to its high rigidity.
