Magnetic Nanoparticles as MR Contrast Agent
Xiaoyuan Chen1

1National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD

Synopsis

Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) have been extensively explored as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents. Recent progress in probing MRI relaxivity of MNPs based on structural features at the molecular and atomic scales is reviewed, namely, the structure–relaxivity relationships, including size, shape, crystal structure, surface modification, and assembled structure. A special emphasis is placed on bridging the gaps between classical simplistic models and modern MNPs with elegant structural complexity. In the pursuit of novel MRI contrast agents, it is hoped that this talk will spur the critical thinking for design and engineering of novel MNPs for MRI applications across a broad spectrum of research fields.

Magnetic Nanoparticles as MR Contrast Agent

Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) have been extensively explored as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents. Recent progress in probing MRI relaxivity of MNPs based on structural features at the molecular and atomic scales is reviewed, namely, the structure–relaxivity relationships, including size, shape, crystal structure, surface modification, and assembled structure. A special emphasis is placed on bridging the gaps between classical simplistic models and modern MNPs with elegant structural complexity. In the pursuit of novel MRI contrast agents, it is hoped that this talk will spur the critical thinking for design and engineering of novel MNPs for MRI applications across a broad spectrum of research fields.

Acknowledgements

Funding support: Intramural Research Program (IRP), National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), National Institutes of Health (NIH)

References

Zhou Z et al. Adv Mater. 2019;31(8):e1804567
Proc. Intl. Soc. Mag. Reson. Med. 27 (2019)