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Updated: Jan 26, 2026

Preparation, Purification, and Characterization of Lanthanide Complexes for Use as Contrast Agents for Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Published on: July 21, 2011
Development and characterization of lanthanide-HPDO3A-C16-based micelles as CEST-MRI contrast agents
Giuseppe Ferrauto1, Frederik Beauprez, Enza Di Gregorio
1Molecular Imaging Center, Department of Molecular Biotechnology and Health Sciences, University of Torino- Via Nizza 52, 10126 Torino, IT, Italy. daniela.dellicastelli@unito.it.
Abstract:
The synthesis and characterization of a novel HPDO3A-based ligand having a C16 alkyl chain and its Eu3+, Gd3+ and Yb3+ complexes are reported. These amphiphilic paramagnetic complexes can form micelles with very good stability both in phosphate buffer and in human serum. A high number of Ln-complexes (ca. 200 molecules) are present in the micelle, providing this system with good sensitivity (μM in terms of micelle concentration) for MRI detection. Moreover, it has been found that the cell toxicity of the micelles may be reduced by adding DSPE-PEG2000 in the formulation. Both relaxometric and CEST properties of the micelles were investigated in detail. The micelles loaded with Eu- and Yb-HPDO3A complexes, similar to what was reported for the water-soluble analogs, act as pH-sensors and appear to be suitable for CEST multicolor experiments.
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