Development of a novel magnetic resonance imaging contrast agent for pressure measurements using lipid coated gas filled microbubbles

摘要

The aim of this study was to prepare a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agent for imaging of fluid pressure. This involved preparing gas microbubbles using two contrasting methods: homogenisation and sonication. In the first method, the microbubbles are composed of a standard phospholipid (DSPC) and filled with air or nitrogen (N2) whilst in the second method the microbubbles are composed of a fluorinated phospholipid (F-GPC) filled with a fluorocarbon saturated gas. These microbubbles were evaluated in terms of physicochemical characteristics such as size and stability before their efficacy as pressure sensitive probes was investigated. Our studies showed that whilst maintaining high sensitivity, a novel contrast agent which allows stable MRI measurements of fluid pressure over time, could be produced using lipid-coated microbubbles.