Research progress of magnetic resonance imaging contrast agents

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a clinical diagnostic modality, which has become popular in hospitals around the world. Approximately 30% of MRI exams include the use of contrast agents. The research progress of the paramagnetic resonance imaging contrast agents was described briefly. Three important approaches in the soluble paramagnetic resonance imaging contrast agents design including nonionic, tissue-specific and macromolecular contrast agents were investigated. In addition, the problems in the research and development in future were discussed.     

稀土纳米粒子磁共振成像造影剂的研究进展

镧系元素(Ln)独特的磁学性质主要来源于其4f外层电子结构.利用Ln磁学性质合成的无机稀土纳米粒子被广泛用作磁共振成像(MRI)造影剂(CAs).总结了近年来磁性无机稀土纳米粒子在不同系列(T_1,T_2以及T_1-T_2) MRI CAs的应用现状及发展前景.     

稀土纳米粒子作为磁共振成像造影剂的研究进展

镧系元素拥有独特的4f外层电子结构,从而使其具有独特的光学和磁学性质.利用具有磁学性质的镧系元素合成的稀土纳米粒子被广泛用作磁共振成像造影剂.主要总结了近年来磁性稀土纳米粒子的种类、合成方法及不同系列(T_1,T_2)的磁共振成像造影剂的应用现状,并展望了其前景.     

钆基无机纳米粒子磁共振造影剂设计的研究进展

磁共振成像(MRI)技术是常见的临床医学影像学的检测手段之一.在临床诊断中使用最多的是纵向弛豫(T₁)造影剂：马根维显(Gd-DTPA).自其正式商用化后,人们对钆基造影剂进行了大量研究.文章介绍了钆基无机纳米粒子(Gd IONPs)造影剂的作用原理,阐述了无机纳米粒子的形貌、尺寸、表面修饰、氧空位等因素的影响,并对Gd IONPs造影剂的设计做了展望.     

碳量子点作为光声造影剂的性能评价与基础研究

基于碳量子点的优异光吸收性能,探讨碳量子点作为光声造影剂的潜质.测试碳量子点的基本物理性质,以及不同浓度、波长、缓冲液中的体外光声成像效果.进而研究其在小鼠皮下注射及尾静脉注射下的体内光声造影效果及生物相容性.结果显示,碳量子点具有优良的光声性能,在多种缓冲液中具备稳定的光声信号.动物体内实验证实其在小鼠皮下以及血管中均能起到光声造影增强作用,并且具有良好的生物相容性.     

纳米多功能磁共振造影剂的合成、修饰及其生物应用

磁性纳米粒子在生物成像方面已经得到了广泛的应用,并且有着良好的发展前景.就纳米多功能磁共振造影剂的种类、合成、表面修饰及其生物应用等方面介绍了近年来国内外在这一领域的最新进展.     

The preparation and application of microbubble contrast agent combining ultrasound imaging and magnetic resonance imaging

Encapsulated gas microbubbles are well known as ultrasound contrast agents （UCAs） for medical ultrasound （US） imaging. With the development of shell materials and preparation technologies, the application of microbubbles has been enormously popular in molecular imaging, drug delivery and targeted therapy, etc. The objective of this study is to develop Fe3O4 nanoparticle-inclusion microbubble construct. The in vitro US imaging experiment indicates that the Fe3O4 nanoparticle-inclusion microbubbles have higher US enhancement than those without Fe3O4 nanoparticle-inclusion. According to the microbubble dynamic theory, the acoustic scattering properties can be quantified by scattering cross-section of the shell. The scattering study on Fe3O4 nanoparticle-inclusion microbubbles of different concentration shows that within a certain range of concentration, the scattering cross-section of microbubble increases with the addition of Fe3O4 nanoparticles. When exceeding the concentration range, the ultrasonic characteristic of microbubbles is damped. On the other hand, since Fe3O4 nanoparticles can also serve as the Magnetic Resonance Imaging （MRI） contrast agent, they can be potentially used as contrast agents for the double-modality （MRI and US） clinical studies. However, it is important to control the concentration of Fe3O4 nanoparticles in the shell in order to realize the combined functions of US and MRI.     

Amphiphilic dextran/magnetite nanocomposites as magnetic resonance imaging probes

Superparamagnetic iron oxide （SPIO） nanoparticles are effective contrast agents for enhancement of magnetic resonance imaging at the tissue, cellular or even molecular levels. High quality SPIO nanoparticles can be synthesized in the organic phase but need to be transferred into water before any biomedical applications. In this study, amphiphilic poly（ε-caprolactone） grafted dextran （Dex-g-PCL） was used as carriers for particle encapsulation and stabilization in the aqueous phase. Multiple SPIO nanoparticles were self-assembled together with the help of Dex-g-PCL during phase transfer from chloroform to water, and diameters of Dex-g-PCL/SPIO nanocomposites were （64 ± 22） nm through dynamic light scattering measurement. These nanocomposites were superparamagnetic at 300 K with saturated magnetization of 88 emu/g Fe. In the magnetic field of 1.5 T, Dex-g-PCL/SPIO nanocomposites had a T2 relaxivity of 363 Fe mL·mol-1·s-1. This unique nanocomposite brought significant mouse liver contrast with signal intensity changes of -60% at 5 min after intravenous administration. However, uptake of Dex-g-PCL/SPIO nanocomposites in liver reticuloendothelial cells （Kupffer cells） did not immediately happen at shorter time points （〈4 h） as verified by histology studies, and it was evident that more iron staining would be located in Kupffer cells 24 h after contrast agent administration. After 24 h and 10 d, the signal intensities （SI） gradually recovered, and SI changes were -44% and -31%, respectively. From our observation, the time window for enhanced-MRI could last at least 12 days and totally recovered after 16 days. This novel sensitive MRI contrast agent may find potential applications in discovering small liver lesions such as early tumor diagnosis.     

Gd-MOF磁共振造影剂的研究进展

磁共振成像(MRI)是常规临床医学检测中一种重要的影像手段.钆(Gd)基金属有机框架(Gd-MOF)结合了稀土元素Gd特有的磁性和MOF独特的多孔框架结构,展现出优异的造影性能,是一类具有潜力的磁共振造影剂.综述了Gd-MOF造影剂的研究进展,并综合分析了影响其性能的多方面因素.     

磁共振成像系统中梯度放大器的控制算法

针对磁共振成像对梯度放大器的性能要求,提出一种状态反馈和比例积分相结合的控制算法。介绍了放大器的主电路结构,对输出滤波器进行了优化设计。基于滤波器和负载模型,采用状态量反馈法,设计了二次型最优调节器以使系统具有良好的动态性能。为减小模数转换的有限有效位数对控制算法稳态性能的影响,进一步使用了差值放大结合比例积分的调节器。仿真和实验结果证明,系统具有良好的动态和稳态性能。     

On-demand degradable magnetic resonance imaging nanoprobes

Theranostic nanoprobes can potentially integrate imaging and therapeutic capabilities into a single platform,offering a new personalized cancer diagnostic tool....     

Functional magnetic resonance imaging of amphetamine craving

The aim of this study is to identify the brain activity associated with amphetamine craving for understanding the neurobiology of addiction by watching pictures of happy, sad or amphetamine. Brain activity was measured in 12 amphetamine addicts and 12 healthy subjects by fMRI while the subjects watched pictures designed to elicit happy feelings, sad feelings, or the desire to use amphetamine. The result demonstrated that amphetamine cues led to abnormally high cingulate and low frontal lobe activation in amphetamine addicts, who showed abnormalities in affect-related brain activation.     

Functional magnetic resonance imaging of amphetamine craving

The aim of this study is to identify the brain activity associated with amphetamine craving for understanding the neurobiology of addiction by watching pictures of happy, sad or amphetamine. Brain activity was measured in 12 amphetamine addicts and 12 healthy subjects by fMRI while the subjects watched pictures designed to elicit happy feelings, sad feelings, or the desire to use amphetamine. The result demonstrated that amphetamine cues led to abnormally high cingulate and low frontal lobe activation in amphetamine addicts, who showed abnormalities in affect-related brain activation.     

基于正则化的SPACE-RIP并行磁共振成像重建算法

采用并行磁共振成像可以提高成像速度和图像分辨率,但这是以牺牲重建图像的信噪比为代价的。为此,该文提出了一种基于正则化的并行磁共振成像重建算法,降低由于阵列线圈的几何相关而造成的信噪比损失。以预扫描图像作为最后重建图像的先验信息,用L曲线方法求解最佳正则化参数。实验表明,该方法能较大限度地减弱噪声对重建结果的影响,当SPACE-RIP并行成像技术的加速因子达到4时,仍可得到高质量的高分辨率重建影像。重建后的图像质量良好,对临床诊断具有较高实用价值。     

Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging of a single cell

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) imaging is now an established tool in clinical imaging and competes favourably with conventional X-ray computerized tomography (CT) scanning. The drive behind NMR imaging has primarily been in the area of whole-body imaging, which has been limited clinically to fields of up to 1.5 T (60 MHz). It is recognized that there may be substantial advantages in obtaining images with sub-millimetre spatial resolution. Also, there may be benefits to imaging at higher fields, since the signal increases as the square of the magnetic field. Using a modified 9.5 T 89-mm-bore high-resolution NMR spectrometer, we have now obtained the first NMR images of a single cell, demonstrating the advent of the NMR imaging microscope. The NMR microscope is expected to have considerable impact in the areas of biology, medicine and materials science, and may serve as a precursor to obtaining such resolutions on human subjects.     

基于正则化的SPACE-RIP并行磁共振成像重建算法

采用并行磁共振成像可以提高成像速度和图像分辨率,但这是以牺牲重建图像的信噪比为代价的。为此,该文提出了一种基于正则化的并行磁共振成像重建算法,降低由于阵列线圈的几何相关而造成的信噪比损失。以预扫描图像作为最后重建图像的先验信息,用L曲线方法求解最佳正则化参数。实验表明,该方法能较大限度地减弱噪声对重建结果的影响,当SPACE-RIP并行成像技术的加速因子达到4时,仍可得到高质量的高分辨率重建影像。重建后的图像质量良好,对临床诊断具有较高实用价值。     

磁纳米分子影像探针研究热点与挑战

 近年来,磁纳米材料在分子影像领域的应用得到科研人员的广泛关注。常用的磁性纳米探针是超顺磁性氧化铁颗粒（SPION）,它具有较好的水质子横向弛豫时间（T₂）弥散加权核磁共振成像造影剂的性能。通过对SPION制备及表面修饰进行改进,使纳米颗粒具有磁共振造影功能和干细胞标记、药物/基因递送的功能。综述了SPION兼具影像探针和磁共振成像可视化治疗方面的功能。虽然已有多种磁纳米材料进入临床研究,但结合当前研究瓶颈以及纳米药物制备方法的发展,制备造影效果较好、药物生物相容性较高、具有靶向性及临床转换潜力较强的SPION是新一代磁纳米探针研究亟需解决的问题。     

铁配合物MRI造影剂的研究进展

因钆(Gd)基造影剂潜在的毒副作用,人们一直在寻找其他的替代品.目前研究较深入的有铁(Fe)、锰(Mn)等金属造影剂,以及氙(¹²⁹Xe)、氟(¹⁹F)等非金属造影剂.Fe配合物作为一类纵向(T₁)加权磁共振成像(MRI)造影剂,具有良好的生物相容性,在临床上有极大的潜在应用价值.文章着重介绍了此类造影剂在弛豫性能、特异性响应成像、多模态联合成像方面的研究进展,通过对铁离子个数的调节与配体的修饰,以提高其弛豫性能;通过添加不同功能的基团,可对某些癌症或其他患病区域进行靶向成像;以及与其他成像方式,如光声成像、荧光成像等进行的联合诊断.     

关于磁共振图像质量评价方法的探讨

磁共振信号得到的人体断层图像,不仅可以反映形态学的信息,还可以从图像中得到与病理有关的信息,其图像质量的好坏将直接影响着医护人员对病人的诊断结果.目前对磁共振图像质量评价的重要指标是信号强度均匀度.但在信号强度几乎相同的条件下,这一评价指标的有效性较低.为了对磁共振图像质量作更加有效的评判,可采用比较信噪比的最大与最小区域的信号强度标准差的方法,其评价的有效性较高.     

二维SPACE RIP并行成像技术在三维磁共振成像中的应用

相比均匀欠采样规则,基于非均匀欠采样规则的SPACE RIP并行磁共振成像技术能够获得更高质量的影像。为了减少三维快速自旋回波(3-D fast spin echo,3-DFSE)序列的扫描时间,该文提出了在2个相位编码方向都采用基于指数分布的非均匀欠采样规则,结合SPACE RIP并行磁共振成像技术来减少扫描时间。并用仿真实验、水模研究以及活体实验来评价所提出方案的性能。实验表明,重建后的图像噪声低、分辨率高并且无明显混叠伪影,对临床诊断具有较高使用价值。