Iron oxide nanoparticles as positive T(1) contrast agents for low-field magnetic resonance imaging at 64 mT

We have investigated the efficacy of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) as positive T(1) contrast agents for low-field magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at 64 millitesla (mT). Iron oxide-based agents, such as the FDA-approved ferumoxytol, were measured using a variety of techniques to evaluate T(1) contrast at 64 mT. Additionally, we characterized monodispersed carboxylic acid-coated SPIONs with a range of diameters (4.9–15.7 nm) in order to understand size-dependent properties of T(1) contrast at low-field. MRI contrast properties were measured using 64 mT MRI, magnetometry, and nuclear magnetic resonance dispersion (NMRD). We also measured MRI contrast at 3 T to provide comparison to a standard clinical field strength. SPIONs have the capacity to perform well as T(1) contrast agents at 64 mT, with measured longitudinal relaxivity (r(1)) values of up to 67 L mmol(−1) s(−1), more than an order of magnitude higher than corresponding r(1) values at 3 T. The particles exhibit size-dependent longitudinal relaxivities and outperform a commercial Gd-based agent (gadobenate dimeglumine) by more than eight-fold at physiological temperatures. Additionally, we characterize the ratio of transverse to longitudinal relaxivity, r(2)/r(1) and find that it is ~ 1 for the SPION based agents at 64 mT, indicating a favorable balance of relaxivities for T(1)-weighted contrast imaging. We also correlate the magnetic and structural properties of the particles with models of nanoparticle relaxivity to understand generation of T(1) contrast. These experiments show that SPIONs, at low fields being targeted for point-of-care low-field MRI systems, have a unique combination of magnetic and structural properties that produce large T(1) relaxivities.