High Tc susceptometer for magnetic measure of body iron

简介(申请人提供)：拟进行的生物工程研究 合作伙伴关系将整合生物工程、基础科学和临床工作 在设计、开发和临床验证中 高温(高温；77oK工作)超导 用于直接、非侵入性测量肝脏铁储备的磁感仪 遗传性血色素沉着症、地中海贫血引起的铁负荷过高的患者 主要表现为镰状细胞病和其他疾病。我们的实验室最初 建议储存铁(铁蛋白和含铁血黄素)可以是非侵入性的 由于其顺磁性，在体内进行了评估。我们随后 开发的低转变温度(低T_c；工作在4.2oK) 超导量子干涉装置(SQUID)生物传感器作为一种 肝铁贮存量的临床测定方法。非侵入性 铁负荷过重患者肝脏储存铁的磁学测量 在数量上等同于对所获得的组织进行生化测定 但低T_c仪器的成本和复杂性限制了 临床采用该方法。我们的低T_c磁感仪有三个元件 它利用超导电性：(I)鱿鱼，(Ii)磁场线圈， 在肝脏附近产生一个局部稳定的磁场，以及(Iii) 检测线圈和磁通变压器。最近的技术进步使 用液氦冷却的这些低T_c元素中的每一个都可能被替代， 当用液氮冷却时，部件能够正常工作。要提供 “原则证明”，我们已经建造并运行了一个高温超导原型。 带有(I)高T_c SQUID，(Ii)NdBFe永磁体的磁感计，提供 强局域磁场，以及(Iii)检测线圈和磁通 变压器，由高T_c Y1Ba2Cu3O7-Delta薄膜制成，沉积在 柔性衬底。拟议的伙伴关系现在将优化和整合 将这些组件集成到一系列液氮冷却的临床设备中，以及 然后在成人和成人的研究中验证和认证高TC-感受器 儿科病人。磁学研究可以准确、直接和重复地进行 用任何其他方法都不可能测量肝脏铁的储存量。这个 开发一种负担得起的、易于使用的非侵入性仪器 肝脏铁的测量-NIDDK和 NHLBI-将是患者诊断和管理方面的重大进步 由于铁超载，这将发现立即和广泛的临床应用 在美国和世界范围内。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed Bioengineering Research Partnership will integrate bioengineering, basic science and clinical efforts in the design, development and clinical validation of a high-transition-temperature (high Tc; operating at 77oK) superconducting susceptometer for the direct, non-invasive measurement of hepatic iron stores in patients with iron overload from hereditary hemochromatosis, thalassemia major, sickle cell disease and other disorders. Our laboratories originally proposed that storage iron (ferritin and hemosiderin) could be non-invasively assessed in vivo because of its paramagnetic properties. We subsequently developed low-transition-temperature (low Tc; operating at 4.2oK) superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) biosusceptometry as a clinical method for the measurement of hepatic iron stores. Non-invasive magnetic measurements of hepatic storage iron in patients with iron overload are quantitatively equivalent to biochemical determinations on tissue obtained by biopsy but the cost and complexity of the low-Tc instrument has restricted clinical adoption of the method. Our low-Tc susceptometer has three elements which utilize superconductivity: (i) the SQUID, (ii) the field coils that produce a localized steady magnetic field near the liver, and (iii) the detection coils and flux transformer. Recent technological advances make possible replacement of each of these low-Tc elements, cooled by liquid helium, with components able to function when cooled by liquid nitrogen. To provide "proof-of-principle," we have constructed and operated a prototype high-Tc susceptometer with (i) a high-Tc SQUID, (ii) a NdBFe permanent magnet providing a strong localized magnetic field, and (iii) detection coils and flux transformer fashioned from a high-Tc Y1Ba2Cu3O7-delta film deposited on a flexible substrate. The proposed Partnership will now optimize and integrate these components into a series of liquid nitrogen-cooled clinical devices, and then validate and certify the high Tc-susceptometers in studies of adult and pediatric patients. Magnetic studies permit accurate, direct, and repeated measurements of hepatic iron stores not possible with any other method. The development of an affordable, readily usable instrument for the non-invasive measurement of hepatic iron - a high priority goal of both the NIDDK and the NHLBI - would be a major advance in the diagnosis and management of patients with iron overload that would find immediate and widespread clinical use both in the U.S. and worldwide.