Sensing lanthanide metal content in biological tissues with magnetic resonance spectroscopy

The development and validation of MRI contrast agents consisting of a lanthanide chelate often requires a determination of the concentration of the agent in ex vivo tissue. We have developed a protocol that uses 70% nitric acid to completely digest tissue samples that contain Gd(III), Dy(III), Tm(III), Eu(III), or Yb(III) ions, or the MRI contrast agent gadodiamide. NMR spectroscopy of coaxial tubes containing a digested sample and a separate control solution of nitric acid was used to rapidly and easily measure the bulk magnetic susceptibility (BMS) shift caused by each lanthanide ion and gadodiamide. Each BMS shift was shown to be linearly correlated with the concentration of each lanthanide ion and gadodiamide in the 70% nitric acid solution and in digested rat kidney and liver tissues. These concentration measurements had outstanding precision, and also had good accuracy for concentrations ≥10 mM for Tm(III) Eu(III), and Yb(III), and ≥3 mM for Gd(III), gadodiamide, and Dy(III). Improved sample handling methods are needed to improve measurement accuracy for samples with lower concentrations.