Félix-González, N., et al., Assessment of a Heuristic Model for Characterization of Magnetic Nanoparticles as Contrast Agent in MRI. Concepts in Magnetic Resonance Part A, 2015. 44A(5): p. 279-286.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/cmr.a.21361
In magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the use of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) as contrast agent (CA) greatly enhances the possibility to identify several diseases hardly diagnosed by other means. The efficacy of a new CA is described by the longitudinal and transverse relaxivity. Nuclear Magnetic Relaxation Dispersion (NMRD) profiles represent the evolution of relaxivities with magnetic field. Many efforts have been taken to develop theoretical models to depict water proton relaxation in presence of magnetic compounds. The use of theoretical models in junction with NMRD profiles has become a powerful tool to characterize MNPs as CA. In this work, a heuristical theoretical model was implemented, verified and assessed with different magnetic materials. It has been demonstrated that the model works well when using iron cores but fails with other magnetic compounds. A weighting factor associated with Langevin function was introduced to the model. This extra calibration enables the model to be used with other magnetic compounds to characterize new CAs in MRI.