title: Highly magnetic iron carbide nanoparticles as effective T(2) contrast agents.
abstract: This paper reports that iron carbide nanoparticles with high air-stability and strong saturation magnetization can serve as effective T2 contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging. Fe5C2 nanoparticles (~20 nm in diameter) exhibit strong contrast enhancement with an r2 value of 283.2 mM(-1) S(-1), which is about twice as high as that of spherical Fe3O4 nanoparticles (~140.9 mM(-1) S(-1)). In vivo experiments demonstrate that Fe5C2 nanoparticles are able to produce much more significant MRI contrast enhancement than conventional Fe3O4 nanoparticles in living subjects, which holds great promise in biomedical applications.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, The Key Laboratory for Chemical Biology of Fujian Province and Department of Chemical Biology, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China. jhgao@xmu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Guoming
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Zijian
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Xiaoqin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chi
authors.forename: Jinhao
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gao
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017554:Carbon Compounds, Inorganic / Q000737:chemistry*; D003287:Contrast Media / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D058085:Iron Compounds / Q000737:chemistry*; D008107:Liver Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008280:Magnetics; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D010316:Particle Size; D011859:Radiography; D059629:Signal-To-Noise Ratio
chemical_list: D017554:Carbon Compounds, Inorganic; D003287:Contrast Media; D058085:Iron Compounds; C541825:iron carbide