Highlighting versatile contrast agents for high-field MRI
Highlighting versatile contrast agents for high-field MRI lead image
Magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, has become a standard tool for medical diagnostics since its introduction in the 1980s. In the past five years, a version with stronger magnets, called high-field MRI, has allowed even better imaging quality.
Along with the implementation of stronger magnets, researchers have developed new contrast agents to increase contrast between healthy and diseased tissues. Banerjee et al. summarize these latest advances in a review of high-field MRI contrast agents.
“We’ve been working a few years on high-field MRI contrast agents, and we found there was clearly a gap in the literature to discuss these contrast agents in a comprehensive way,” said author Simon Trudel. “We wanted to highlight the differences and similarities between agents.”
The review covers contrast agent design, synthesis, and recent advances, including a shift to more versatile nanoparticulate systems. Researchers are finding nanoparticles can be designed with specific shapes, structures, and molecular surfaces that can greatly improve contrast agent functionality while remaining safe to administer in humans. Some nanoparticle systems can even offer multifunctionality, such as bionanoprobes that can provide drug delivery, therapeutic applications, and improve high-field MRI imaging.
The review also addresses challenges and gaps still facing the field, such as preparing nanoparticle contrast agents for clinical trials, continuing to develop safer MRI-active elements, and furthering research into multifunctional contrast agents.
“By providing a comprehensive overview of the field, I hope we can guide researchers to design new and improved contrast agents,” Trudel said.
Source: “High-field magnetic resonance imaging: Challenges, advantages, and opportunities for novel contrast agents,” by Abhinandan Banerjee, Barbara Blasiak, Armita Dash, Boguslaw Tomanek, Frank J. C. M. van Veggel, and Simon Trudel, Chemical Physics Reviews (2022). The article can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0064517 .
