Researchers Develop Highly-Sensitive Tracer for Use with MRI Scanners

Researchers have revealed a new fluorine-based Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) tracer that can efficiently track cells and molecules.

The tracer will enable clinicians to track cells and visualize their behavior in living patients, and speed up the development of emerging treatments using stem cells and immune cells.

The discovery was announced by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, (UCSD; San Diego, CA, USA), and published in the March, 14, 2016, online issue of Nature Materials.

The researchers were able to synthesize a new cell labeling probe using fluorine-19 that was taken up by targeted cells. The fluorine agent was then detected using an MRI scanner and allowed researchers to observe the movement of cells. The researchers increased the sensitivity of the agent by combining highly fluorinated nano-emulsions with magnetic properties of metals, and discovered that iron was effective at enhancing the signal of the fluorine MRI tracer. Iron is biologically friendlier and cheaper than gadolinium, a rare-earth metal used in proton MRI today.

Senior author of the study, Eric T. Ahrens, PhD, professor of radiology, said,“Fluorine-19 tracer agents are an emerging approach that produces positive signal hot-spot images with no background signal because there’s virtually no fluorine concentration in tissues. We have made a major leap in sensitivity. We have figured out how to dissolve and encapsulate metals inside the fluorine-based droplets. The net effect is to greatly amp up the MRI signal. 19F MRI aided by iron represents a significant advance in tracking cells in many emerging therapeutic areas, such as immunotherapy, stem cells and treating inflammation”.

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