Porphyrin-Substituted H-NOX Proteins as High-Relaxivity MRI 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...

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...

Metal-substituted protein MRI contrast agents engineered for enhanced relaxivity and ligand sensitivity.

Engineered metalloproteins constitute a flexible new class of analyte-sensitive molecular imaging agents detectable by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), but their contrast effects are generally weaker than synthetic agents. To augment the proton relaxivity of agents derived from the heme domain of cytochrome P450 BM3 (BM3h), we formed manganese(III)-containing proteins that have higher electron...

S 1 Metal - substituted protein MRI contrast agents engineered for enhanced relaxivity and ligand sensitivity

Next generation, high relaxivity gadolinium MRI agents.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has evolved into one of the most powerful techniques in diagnostic clinical medicine and biomedical research by enabling the acquisition of high resolution, three-dimensional images of the distribution of water in vivo (1). The strong expansion of medical MRI has prompted the development of a new class of pharmacological products, called contrast agents. These a...