Maxim V. Terekhov1, Vasily Sen'2,
Valery Golubev2, Stefan Weber3, Alexander W. Scholz4,
Thomas Muenzel5, Andrei L. Kleschyov5, Laura Maria
Schreiber3
1Department of Radiology, Section of
Medical Physics, Johannes Gutenberg
University Medical Center Mainz, Mainz, Germany; 2Institute of
Problems of Chemical Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Russian Federation;
3Department of Radiology, Section of Medical Physics, Johannes
Gutenberg University Medical Center Mainz, Mainz, Germany; 4Department
of Anesthesiology, Johannes Gutenberg University Medical Center Mainz, Mainz,
Germany; 5II-Department of Medicine, Johannes Gutenberg University
Medical Center Mainz, Mainz, Germany
Cyclic
nitroxides e.g. TEMPO are stable free radicals with multiple applications in
MRI. Heparin is known to have a high affinity for the vascular extracellular
structures. We propose that TEMPO could be delivered to the vascular wall by
means of heparin-polynitroxide (HNR) derivatives where the nitroxide is
linked with the heparin macromolecule. The T1,2 measurements show that HNR
complexes provide the relaxivity contrast comparable with Gd-based media. The
pilot MRI experiment with ex-vivo labeling of vascular wall with HNR
demonstrate high potential of
functionalized polynitroxide targeted to the specific structures of
the vascular wall for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes.