Quantitative estimation of magnetic nanoparticle distributions in one dimension using low-frequency continuous wave electron paramagnetic resonance

摘要

In recent years, magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) have gained increased attention due to their superparamagnetic properties. These properties allow the development of innovative biomedical applications such as targeted drug delivery and tumour heating. However, these modalities lack effective operation arising from the inaccurate quantification of the spatial MNP distribution. This paper proposes an approach for assessing the one-dimensional (1D) MNP distribution using electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR). EPR is able to accurately determine the MNP concentration in a single volume but not the MNP distribution throughout this volume. A new approach that exploits the solution of inverse problems for the correct interpretation of the measured EPR signals, is investigated. We achieve reconstruction of the 1D distribution of MNPs using EPR. Furthermore, the impact of temperature control on the reconstructed distributions is analysed by comparing two EPR setups where the latter setup is temperature controlled. Reconstruction quality for the temperature-controlled setup increases with an average of 5% and with a maximum increase of 13% for distributions with relatively lower iron concentrations and higher resolutions. However, these measurements are only a validation of our new method and form no hard limits.