An electric-field-responsive paramagnetic contrast agent enhances the visualization of epileptic foci in mouse models of drug-resistant epilepsy.
Cong WangWanbing SunJun ZhangJianping ZhangQinghua GuoXingyu ZhouDandan FanHaoran LiuMing QiXihui GaoHaiyan XuZhaobing GaoMei TianHong ZhangJianhong WangZixuan WeiNicholas J LongYing MaoCong LiPublished in: Nature biomedical engineering (2020)
For patients with drug-resistant focal epilepsy, excision of the epileptogenic zone is the most effective treatment approach. However, the surgery is less effective in the 15-30% of patients whose lesions are not distinct when visualized by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Here, we show that an intravenously administered MRI contrast agent consisting of a paramagnetic polymer coating encapsulating a superparamagnetic cluster of ultrasmall superparamagnetic iron oxide crosses the blood-brain barrier and improves lesion visualization with high sensitivity and target-to-background ratio. In kainic-acid-induced mouse models of drug-resistant focal epilepsy, electric-field changes in the brain associated with seizures trigger breakdown of the contrast agent, restoring the T1-weighted magnetic resonance signal, which otherwise remains quenched due to the distance-dependent magnetic resonance tuning effect between the cluster and the coating. The electric-field-responsive contrast agent may increase the probability of detecting seizure foci in patients and facilitate the study of brain diseases associated with epilepsy.
Keyphrases
- drug resistant
- magnetic resonance
- contrast enhanced
- multidrug resistant
- magnetic resonance imaging
- acinetobacter baumannii
- iron oxide
- end stage renal disease
- ejection fraction
- newly diagnosed
- mouse model
- computed tomography
- chronic kidney disease
- minimally invasive
- temporal lobe epilepsy
- white matter
- prognostic factors
- pseudomonas aeruginosa
- cancer therapy
- patient reported outcomes
- multiple sclerosis
- smoking cessation
- cystic fibrosis
- atrial fibrillation
- combination therapy