Cyril Samuel Lorenzato1,
Chris Oerlemans2, Frank Nijsen2, Chrit T.W. Moonen3,
Clemens Bos3
1Imaging
division, University Medical Center Utrecht , Utrecht, Netherlands; 2Department
of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, University Medical Center Utrecht,
Utrecht, Netherlands; 3Imaging division, University Medical Center
Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands
Last decade, switchable MR contrast-agent based nanocarriers have been designed to monitor release from nanocarriers. Here, we present an easily manufactured gel which consists of alginate microspheres that could be used to address questions related to quantification and or detection thresholds of switchable MR contrast agents. We investigated how the relaxivities of a commercially available gadolinium chelate (Gadovist) are affected by the presence of enclosed water volumes that simulate a soft tissue environment. It was shown that particularly r2 and r2* were strongly increased by a heterogeneous environment in this in vitro setup.