Skip to main content

New Gadolinium based Nanoparticle used as Contrast Agent for MRI


Image retrieved from: https://www.lawsonresearch.ca/news/study-casts-doubt-clinical-significance-gadolinium-brain-deposits
To obtain improved tissue images by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), contrast agents like Gadolinium, Iron Oxide, Iron Platinum, Manganese etc. are generally used. These materials should bind with a carrier compound in order to prevent toxicity of free ion such as Gadolinium into the human body. By the contrast agents, identifying the structural details in the body is mostly enhanced but current materials used for this purposes have some deficiencies such as difficult to recognize diseases in early stages. Also, these materials are not very sensitive their biochemical environment so this limits their applications in MRI.
The research performed in Department of Chemistry at the University of Basel revealed a new type of nanoparticles which can be used as smart contrast agents for MRI. These new nanoparticles were developed by co-assembly of heparin functionalized polymers together with trapped Gadolinium ions and stimuli responsive peptides. They have multiple properties such as sensitive to varied biochemical environments, a potential for long blood circulation and an improvement in MRI contrast for lower concentrations. According to this study, with these nanoparticles, signal of MRI was enhanced about tenfold than the existing agents. These Gadolinium based nanoparticles are characteristic for particular regions such as cancerous tissues. High shelf stability, no apparent anticoagulation property and absence of cellular toxicity are also additional benefits of these nanoparticles.
Posted by 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Molybdenum Trioxide Nanoparticles/Nanopowder and Applications

General Information about Molybdenum Trioxide                                                     Molybdenum trioxide is chemical compound with the formula MoO3. Its chief application is as an oxidation catalyst and as a raw material for the production of molybdenum metal.  Molybdenum Trioxide  is a very light blue powder. Molybdenum Trioxide Nanoparticles/Nanopowder and Their Applications                                                    Like many  nanoparticles/nanopowder , Molybdenum Trioxide nanoparticles/nanopowder are used as catalysts. These catalysis reactions include hydrogenation catalysis and cracking catalysis. Molybdenum Trioxide nanoparticles/  nanopowder are useful for...

Rundown about Silicon Oxide Wafer

The main insulating material used in micro-technology is Silicon Dioxide, which in chemical symbols is written as SiO2. In semiconductor technology, SiO2 thin film layers are mainly used as dielectric material film in transistors, capacitors (DRAM) or flash-memories. Silicon Oxide Wafers are produced using crystallization, solid state and other ultra-high purification processes such as sublimation. This process forms a cylindrical ingot, which is then sliced and polished to form wafers. Thermal oxide is a kind of "grown" oxide layer, compared to CVD deposited oxide layer, it has a higher uniformity, and higher dielectric strength, it is an excellent dielectric layer as an insulator . In most silicon- based devices, thermal oxide layer play an important role to pacify the silicon surface to act as doping barriers and as surface dielectrics. The simplest way to produce an insulating silicon oxide layers (SiO2) on silicon wafers is to oxidize silicon with oxygen, which ...

New Way of Deaf-Mute Communication with 3D Graphene

Image retrieved from: http://blogs.rsc.org/cc/2016/09/01/3d-graphene-adds-dimension-to-deaf%E2%80%93mute-communication/ Chinese scientists have developed wearable electronic device with conductive 3D graphene structure to translate sign language into written text. This technology can be applied by injecting graphene ink from a syringe under printed electronic field. For medical field, such as adhesive patches which determine heart, brain signal and neural activity, wearable and bio-integrated medical devices are very important. Due to noticeable properties of cast graphene, for example a 2D honeycomb lattice, excellent mechanical and electrical behaviors, Graphene has an important material in warble technology. However, it is difficult to preserve advantages of Graphene material in a 3D material which has an information about forces from every angle. Yanlin Song  and co-workers at the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, and Shenyang Jianzhu University...