A Review on the Design of Carbon-Based Nanomaterials as MRI Contrast Agents.

The administration of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents (CAs) has been conducted since 1988 by clinicians to enhance the clarity and interpretability of MR images. CAs based on gadolinium chelates are the clinical standard used worldwide for the diagnosis of various pathologies, such as the detection of brain lesions, the visualization of blood vessels, and the assessment of soft tissue disorders. However, due to ongoing concerns associated with the safety of gadolinium-based contrast agents, considerable efforts have been directed towards developing contrast agents with better relaxivities, reduced toxicity, and eventually combined therapeutic modalities.

Functionalized silica nanoplatform as a bimodal contrast agent for MRI and optical imaging.

The preparation of an efficient bimodal single probe for magnetic resonance (MRI) and optical imaging (OI) is reported. Paramagnetic properties have been obtained by the non-covalent encapsulation of the clinically used Gd chelate (, Gd-HP-DO3A) within silica nanoparticles through a water-in-oil microemulsion process. To ensure colloidal stability, the surface of the particles was modified by means of treatment using PEG-silane, and further functionalized photochemically using a diazirine linker bearing carboxylic functions.

Impact of the chain length on the biodistribution profiles of PEGylated iron oxide nanoparticles: a multimodal imaging study.

Bimodal sub-5 nm superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIO-5) coated with polyethylene glycol of different chain lengths (i.e. PEG-800, -2000 and -5000) have been prepared and characterized.