Steven Harris1, Chase Kessinger2,
Jinming Gao2, Hongwei Chen3, Hui Mao3,
Xiaoping Hu1
1Biomedical Engineering, Georgia
Institute of Technology / Emory University, Atlanta, GA, United States; 2Simmons
Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, United States; 3Department
of Radiology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, United States
An
adiabatic preparation pulse is used to produce an increasing contrast with
increasing iron oxide nanoparticle concentration in cell and tumor
models. The adiabatic condition has
been shown to fail leading to a contrast for spins diffusing near the nanoparticles. We show that the adiabatic contrast is
linearly correlated with R2 over the range of iron loading tested. Also,
increasing contrast is observed in a tumor region confirmed by histology to
contain nanoparticles in a model of tumor angiogenesis. This technique has the potential for cellular
imaging and quantification as it is less sensitive magnetization transfer and
B0 homogeneity.