A general approach involving a solvothermal method was developed to synthesize a series of silicate nanoshells (<100 nm) where both Gd silicate and Gd silicate:Eu nanoshells were further demonstrated to exhibit dual-modality MRI and optical imaging functions.

We hypothesized that the function of both sinusoidal and canalicular transporters importantly controls the concentrations of organic anions within normal hepatocytes. Consequently, we investigated how acute transport regulation of the sinusoidal organic anion transporting polypeptides (Oatps) and the canalicular multidrug resistance associated protein 2 (Mrp(2)) determines the hepatic concentra...

A series of gadolinium complexes were synthesised in order to test the design of dual-modal probes that display a change in fluorescence or relaxivity response upon binding of zinc. A dansyl-DO3ATA gadolinium complex [GdL1] displayed an increase and a slight blue-shift in fluorescence in the presence of zinc; however, a decrease in relaxation rate was observed. Consequently, the ability of the ...

Serial monthly magnetization transfer (MT) imaging was performed to evaluate whether a change of the normal appearing white matter (NAWM), which precedes the appearance of enhancing lesions, is seen in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Every 4 weeks for 3 months, 10 patients with relapsing-remitting MS were scanned with a T1-weighted sequence, 20 minutes after injection with 0.3 mmol/kg ga...

OBJECTIVES Investigating the potential of myelin repair strategies in multiple sclerosis (MS) requires an understanding of myelin dynamics during lesion evolution. The objective of this study is to longitudinally measure myelin water fraction (MWF), an MRI biomarker of myelin, in new MS lesions and to identify factors that influence their subsequent myelin content. METHODS Twenty-three MS pat...

The pneumococcal phosphorylcholine esterase (Pce or CbpE) is a modular protein that hydrolyses the phosphorylcholine residues present in the teichoic and lipoteichoic acids of the pneumococcal cell wall. Pce has been crystallized using the hanging-drop vapour-diffusion method at 291 K. Diffraction-quality monoclinic crystals belong to space group C2, with unit-cell parameters a = 169.82, b = 57...

AIMS The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential of visualizing chronic myocardial infarction in patients using the intravascular CA MS-325 (gadofosveset, EPIX Pharmaceuticals, Mass, USA). METHODS Nine patients were enrolled in a clinical phase II multicenter trial for MRCA and perfusion imaging using MS-325. They had objective evidence of chronic myocardial infarction as visualized b...

Elevated interstitial fluid pressure (IFP) in tumors can cause metastatic dissemination and treatment resistance, but its study poses a challenge because of a paucity of noninvasive imaging strategies. In this study, we address this issue by reporting the development of a noninvasive tool to assess tumor IFP and interstitial hypertension-induced lymph node metastasis. Using mouse xenograft mode...

Measurement of myocardial and brain perfusion when using exogenous contrast agents (CAs) such as gadolinium-DTPA (Gd-DTPA) and MRI is affected by the diffusion of water between compartments. This water exchange may have an impact on signal enhancement, or, equivalently, on the longitudinal relaxation rate, and could therefore cause a systematic error in the calculation of perfusion (F) or the p...

The aim of this study was to evaluate the process of biliary excretion of gadolinium ethoxybenzyl diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (Gd-EOB-DTPA) into the biliary tract and to assess the accumulation patterns in the gallbladder using MR cholangiography obtained with Gd-EOB-DTPA which is a liver-specific hepatobiliary contrast agent. Seventy-five patients underwent Gd-EOB-DTPA enhanced MR imagi...