Interaction of MRI gadolinium contrast agents with phospholipid bilayers as studied by 95 GHz EPR

Interactions of two MRI gadolinium contrast agents, gadolinium ethoxybenzyl-diethylenetriaminepentaacetate (Gd-EOB-DTPA) and gadolinium N-pentyl-1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane-N',N",N'"- triacetic acid (Gd-DOTA-P), with multibilayer phospholipid dispersions prepared from 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphatidylcholine (DPPC) have been investigated with high resolution EPR spectroscopy at 95 GHz. At a resonance field of 3.3 T, EPR spectra of a small nitroxide probe, 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-1-piperidinyloxyl (Tempo), partitioned between aqueous and membrane phases are clearly resolved, making measurements of dynamics parameters of the probe accurate and unambiguous. Results show that although the presence of the more lipophilic contrast agent, Gd-DOTA-P, can be detected within the bilayer, the structural organization of the membrane remains unaffected even at physiologically high (5 mM) concentrations. The temperature of the main phase transition of the bilayer was also unaffected to within the 0.4 degree C accuracy of its determination.