Effect of iron oxide nanoparticles coating type on the relationship between nanoparticles concentration and signal intensity in inversion recovery T1-weighted MRI

Background: Ultrasmall superparamagnetic iron oxide (USPIO) nanoparticles are used as blood pool contrast agent for magnetic resonance angiography and perfusion imaging. Our aim in this study was to investigate the effect of the two coating types of iron oxide nanoparticles on the relationship between nanoparticles concentration and signal intensity (SI) in T1-weighted MR images. Methods: Different concentrations of the polyethylene glycol (PEG), and carboxydextran-coated iron oxide nanoparticles were imaged using inversion recovery Turbo-FLASH (Turbo fast low-angle shot) pulse sequence with inversion times (TIs) of 300-900 ms (interval of 100 ms). The maximum non-linear and linear relationship between the corrected SI (after non-uniformity correction) and the concentration of the two coated nanoparticles were calculated in T1-weighted images. Results: The maximum non-linear relationship between the corrected SI and the concentration of the PEG, and carboxydextran-coated nanoparticles were obtained at concentrations of 400 and 200 μmol Fe/L at a TI of 900 ms, respectively. In addition, the maximum linear relationship between the corrected SI and the concentration of the PEG, and carboxydextran-coated nanoparticles (R2=0.99) appeared at 228.184 and 205.654 μmolFe/L with a TI of 300 ms, respectively. Conclusion: The maximum non-linear corrected SI of the carboxydextran-coated nanoparticles was slightly higher than that of the PEG-coated nanoparticles at similar TIs. However, the PEG-coated nanoparticles were better than the carboxydextran-coated nanoparticles as a T1 contrast agent for perfusion measurements.