title: Iopamidol: Exploring the potential use of a well-established x-ray contrast agent for MRI.
abstract: Iopamidol is one of the most common contrast media used for diagnostic CT-based clinical protocols. Chemically, this molecule contains two pools of mobile protons (amide and alcoholic) that are in exchange with water. At 7.05 T, pH 7.4, and 312 K, the exchange rate of the alcoholic protons is too fast to affect the NMR properties of water protons, whereas the slowly exchanging amide protons induce a T(2)-shortening effect on the "bulk" water signal that is detectable when the concentration is about 12 mM. Moreover, a more pronounced contrast is observed when the amide resonances are saturated by the application of an appropriate RF irradiation field, making iopamidol a potential chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) agent whose effect can be detected at a concentration as low as 7 mM (at 7.05 T). The exploitation of the MRI properties of iopamidol could facilitate novel and interesting diagnostic applications for combined MRI and CT studies.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Chimica IFM, Università di Torino, Via P. Giuria 7, 10125 Torino, Italy. silvio.aime@unito.it
authors.forename: Silvio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Aime
authors.forename: Luisella
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Calabi
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Biondi
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: De Miranda
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ghelli
authors.forename: Lino
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Paleari
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rebaudengo
authors.forename: Enzo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Terreno
mesh_terms: D003287:Contrast Media / Q000737:chemistry*; D007479:Iopamidol / Q000737:chemistry*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media; D007479:Iopamidol