Headline : MRI contrast agent targets hypoxic disease

Read more from the original article on here at www.nibib.nih.gov.

---

No. of Paragraph 24

En Español | Site Map | Staff Directory | Contact Us

Hypoxia, a lack of oxygen, is associated with numerous diseases including cancer, heart disease, arthritis, and diabetes. Certain tumors grow very rapidly in hypoxic environments and the ability to identify such tumors could be extremely useful for determining the best course of treatment. Using non-invasive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) would be an ideal way to image such tumors but is a challenge because the standard contrast agents do not work well in hypoxic tissues with few blood vessels. Now researchers funded by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) are developing new MRI contrast agents that are activated in low oxygen environments enabling improved diagnosis and treatment of hypoxic tumors as well as other diseases that have a hypoxic component.  

For over 30 years contrast agents such as gadolinium have been used to obtain enhanced MRI images. The agents are made from a group of elements known as the rare-earth metals that have unique magnetic properties.

Chemists at Wayne State University in collaboration with researchers at Baylor College of Medicine are using another rare-earth metal—europium (Eu)—to obtain enhanced MRI images of areas of hypoxic disease in the body.  The team, led by Matthew J. Allen, Ph.D. professor and chair of the department of chemistry, have been working with Eu because it has the distinct property of creating a bright MRI signal in response to low oxygen levels. 

Read more from the original article on here at www.nibib.nih.gov.

Related Headlines : MRI contrast agent targets hypoxic disease (in Google.com):

Hello, below you have a "Web" tab to read more content and an "Image" tab to get related pictures

Example : Trends, Country, News, Jobs, Scholarships, Investment, Business, Politics, Adverts, Fashion, Events, Technology and more.