GADOLINIUM CONTAINING FULLERENES AS MRI CONTRAST AGENTS

含Gd原子的面内富勒烯是一类很有前途的新型化合物，有可能成为优异的磁共振造影剂。富勒烯是一种新发现的中空封闭壳层，所有的碳分子都可以在其壳层中容纳单个或多个稀土原子，如Gd。这类化合物在成像应用中作为造影剂具有许多重要的优点。与传统化合物不同，被捕获的稀土元素完全不受外部环境的影响，因此不会释放到体内。此外，这些化合物表现出非常高的弛豫性能，比目前的显像剂高出五倍左右。因此，它们非常适用于显像剂在体内保留较长时间的应用。该项目将改进Gd-金属富勒烯的提取和纯化方法，开发改进的使化合物可溶于水的方法，并测量由此衍生的化合物的水溶解度、松弛系数和稳定性。最好的化合物将进一步测试，以确定它们的毒性、消除途径、体内分布和半衰期，以及它们在实际MRI成像实验中的表现。拟议的商业应用：这项研究将导致开发一种全新的稀土富勒烯化合物，这些化合物不仅在提高磁共振成像的对比度方面具有潜在应用，而且在闪烁成像、PET成像和SPECT成像方面也具有潜在的应用。这类化合物还可以应用于放射性药物的输送。

Endohedral fullerenes containing Gd atoms are a promising new class of compounds with the potential to be superior MRI contrast agents. Fullerenes are a newly discovered class of hollow, closed shell, all carbon molecules that can hold single or multiple lanthanide atoms such as gadolinium inside their shell. Such compounds have a number of important advantages as contrast agents in imaging applications. Unlike conventional compounds, the trapped lanthanide is complete protected from the outside environment, and therefore will not be released into the body. In addition, the compounds show very high relaxivities, on the order of five times higher than current imaging agents. As a result, they are ideal in applications where the imaging agent is to be retaining in the body for a long period of time. This project will improve the methods for extracting and purifying the Gd-metallofullerenes, develop improved methods of making the compounds water soluble, and measure the water solubility, relaxivity and stability of the resulting derivitized compounds. The best compounds will be further tested to determine their toxicity, elimination pathways, in vivo distributions and half lives, and their performance in actual MRI imaging experiments. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS: This research will lead to the development of an entirely new class of lanthanide fullerene compounds that have potential applications not only in improving contrast in magnetic resonance imaging, but in scintillation imaging, PET imaging and SPECT imaging. This class of compounds could also have applications to the delivery of radio-pharmaceuticals.