Nilesh N. Mistry1, Jame Van Gambrell2,
Christopher Chad Quarles2
1Dept of Radiation
Oncology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United
States; 2Dept. of Radiology & Radiological Sciences,
Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Sciences, Nashville, TN, United
States
Nitrite undergoes reconversion to nitric oxide (NO) under conditions characteristic of the tumor microenvironment, such as hypoxia and low pH. This selective conversion of nitrite into NO in tumor tissue has led to the possibility of using nitrite to enhance drug delivery and radiation response. In this work we propose to serially characterize the vascular response of brain tumor bearing rats to nitrite using contrast-enhanced R2* mapping. Preliminary results indicate that nitrite induces tumor-specific vascular changes in C6 gliomas that are likely due to increased vascular permeability and iron oxide contrast-agent accumulation within the tumor tissue.