Analytical Sciences

First Functionalized MRI Contrast Agent Recognizing Vascular Lesions

Tatsuhiro YAMAMOTO,*¹ Kenjiro IKUTA,*¹ Keiji OI,*² Kohtaro ABE,*² Toyokazu UWATOKU,*² Masaharu MURATA,*¹ Noboru SHIGETANI,*³ Kengo YOSHIMITSU,*⁴ Hiroaki SHIMOKAWA,*² and Yoshiki KATAYAMA*¹ 

*1 Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Engineering, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 812-8581, Japan
*2 Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Kyushu University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan
*3 Department of Radiology, Kyushu University Hospital, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan
*4 Department of Clinical Radiology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan

A new MRI-contrast agent, EB-DTPA-Gd, that has an Evans Blue analogue as a sensing unit for endothelium lesions, was designed and synthesized. The agent also has diethylenetriamine-N,N,N′,N″,N″-pentaacetic acid-Gd complex (Gadolinium-DTPA) units, which have been used as detection units for T1-weighted MRI. The EB-DTPA-Gd was able to recognize and adsorb to the vascular endothelium-denuded region of porcine aorta, and to decrease the relaxation time of circumferential water's protons, making possible MR imaging of the endothelium-denuded region. The compound can be employed as a contrast agent for the imaging of vascular lesions using MRI.

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