Dendrimers as high relaxivity MR contrast agents

P22 viral capsids as nanocomposite high-relaxivity MRI contrast agents.

Attachment of multiple chelated Gd(3+) ions to the interior of bacteriophage P22 viral capsids affords nanoscale MRI contrast agents with extremely high relaxivity values. Highly fenestrated "wiffleball" morphology is unique to P22 and assures water exchange between the environment and interior cavity of the capsid. The cavity of P22 "wiffleball" was functionalized with a branched oligomer comp...

Evaluation of Gd(III)DTPA-terminated poly(propylene imine) dendrimers as contrast agents for MR imaging.

Different generations of Gd(III)DTPA-terminated poly(propylene imine) dendrimers {G1 [n = 4 Gd(III) ions per molecule], G3 (n = 16) and G5 (n = 64)} and reference Gd(III)DTPA complex [G0 (n = 1)] were characterized in terms of (i) longitudinal (r1) and transverse (r2) relaxivities in mouse blood plasma, (ii) concentration detection limits in vitro and (iii) in vivo contrast-enhanced MR imaging ...

Tobacco mosaic virus rods and spheres as supramolecular high-relaxivity MRI contrast agents.

To compensate for the low sensitivity of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), nanoparticles have been developed to deliver high payloads of contrast agents to sites of disease. Here, we report the development of supramolecular MRI contrast agents using the plant viral nanoparticle tobacco mosaic virus (TMV). Rod-shaped TMV nanoparticles measuring 300×18 nm were loaded with up to 3,500 or 2,000 che...

Novel Metalloporphyrins as Molecular MR Contrast Agents

Introduction: To date, no imaging methodology exists which can image prostate cancer in vivo with sufficient sensitivity and specificity for diagnostic utility. As a consequence, urological surgeons and oncologists proceed with treatment strategies based on ‘blind’ biopsy tissue specimens and limited diagnostic evaluations using conventional MRI and ultrasound. In these experiments, we have inv...

Dendrimers as Antibacterial Agents