TY - JOUR
T1 - Paramagnetic liposomes as innovative contrast agents for magnetic resonance (MR) molecular imaging applications
AU - Terreno, Enzo
AU - Delli Castelli, Daniela
AU - Cabella, Claudia
AU - Dastrù, Walter
AU - Sanino, Alberto
AU - Stancanello, Joseph
AU - Tei, Lorenzo
AU - Aime, Silvio
PY - 2008
Y1 - 2008
N2 - This article illustrates some innovative applications of liposomes loaded with paramagnetic lanthanide-based complexes in MR molecular imaging field. When a relatively high amount of a GdIII chelate is encapsulated in the vesicle, the nanosystem can simultaneously affect both the longitudinal (R1) and the transverse (R2) relaxation rate of the bulkH2O H-atoms, and this finding can be exploited to design improved thermosensitive liposomes whose MRI response is not longer dependent on the concentration of the probe. The observation that the liposome compartmentalization of a paramagnetic LnIII complex induce a significant R2 enhancement, primarily caused by magnetic susceptibility effects, prompted us to test the potential of such agents in cell-targeting MR experiments. The results obtained indicated that these nanoprobes may have a great potential for the MR visualization of cellular targets (like the glutamine membrane transporters) overexpressing in tumor cells. Liposomes loaded with paramagnetic complexes acting as NMR shift reagents have been recently proposed as highly sensitive CEST MRI agents. The main peculiarity of CEST probes is to allow the MR visualization of different agents present in the same region of interest, and this article provides an illustrative example of the in vivo potential of liposome-based CEST agents.
AB - This article illustrates some innovative applications of liposomes loaded with paramagnetic lanthanide-based complexes in MR molecular imaging field. When a relatively high amount of a GdIII chelate is encapsulated in the vesicle, the nanosystem can simultaneously affect both the longitudinal (R1) and the transverse (R2) relaxation rate of the bulkH2O H-atoms, and this finding can be exploited to design improved thermosensitive liposomes whose MRI response is not longer dependent on the concentration of the probe. The observation that the liposome compartmentalization of a paramagnetic LnIII complex induce a significant R2 enhancement, primarily caused by magnetic susceptibility effects, prompted us to test the potential of such agents in cell-targeting MR experiments. The results obtained indicated that these nanoprobes may have a great potential for the MR visualization of cellular targets (like the glutamine membrane transporters) overexpressing in tumor cells. Liposomes loaded with paramagnetic complexes acting as NMR shift reagents have been recently proposed as highly sensitive CEST MRI agents. The main peculiarity of CEST probes is to allow the MR visualization of different agents present in the same region of interest, and this article provides an illustrative example of the in vivo potential of liposome-based CEST agents.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=58149327209&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/cbdv.200890178
DO - 10.1002/cbdv.200890178
M3 - Article
SN - 1612-1872
VL - 5
SP - 1901
EP - 1912
JO - Chemistry and Biodiversity
JF - Chemistry and Biodiversity
IS - 10
ER -