Synthesis and in vivo study of metallofullerene based MRI contrast agent

• DOI: 10.1007/s10967-007-0632-0
• Publication Date: 2007-03-07T07:19:40Z
• Authors: Jun Zhang; Kaimin Liu; Gengmei Xing; Tongxiang Ren; Shukuan Wang
• Keywords: 01 natural sciences; 0104 chemical sciences; 3. Good health

Gd@C82(OH)40 has been developed as a new generation of MRI contrast agent. But recently, it was found that Gd@C82(OH) x with a larger number of OH (x>36) would lead to cage break and hence, release of highly toxic Gd ions. We synthesized the more stable Gd@C82(OH) x with less OH-number, Gd@C82(OH)16, and studied its proton relaxivity and MRI images. The results indicate that Gd@C82(OH)16 also gives high proton relaxivity, even higher than that of (NMG)2-Gd-DTPA. The bio-distribution indicated that Gd@C82(OH)16 tends to be entrapped in the liver and kidney and remained in tissue for about 2 hours. The results suggest that the more stable metallofullerene derivative Gd@C82(OH)16 can be the potential candidate of the new MRI contrast agent.