title: Strategies for increasing the sensitivity of gadolinium based MRI contrast agents.
abstract: Gadolinium(III) complexes are often used in clinical MRI to increase contrast by selectively relaxing the water molecules near the complex. There is a desire to improve the sensitivity (relaxivity) of these contrast agents in order to detect molecular targets. This tutorial review describes the molecular factors that contribute to relaxivity and illustrates with recent examples how these can be optimized. It may be of interest to senior undergraduates and more advanced researchers interested in lanthanide chemistry, biophysics, and/or molecular imaging.
authors.affiliation: EPIX Pharmaceuticals, 67 Rogers St, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. pcaravan@epixpharma.com
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Caravan
mesh_terms: D003287:Contrast Media / Q000737:chemistry*; D005682:Gadolinium / Q000737:chemistry*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008958:Models, Molecular; D015394:Molecular Structure; D009942:Organometallic Compounds / Q000737:chemistry*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media; D009942:Organometallic Compounds; D005682:Gadolinium