Evaluation of carrier agents for hyperpolarized xenon MRI

Several biocompatible carrier agents, in which xenon is highly soluble and has a long T-1 were tested and injected in living rats. These included sali ne, Intralipid suspension, perfluorocarbon emulsion and Xe-129 gas-filled l iposomes. The T-1 of 129Xe in these compounds ranged from 47 to 116 s. Vasc ular injection of these carrier agents was tolerated well, encouraging thei r use for further experiments in Live animals. In vivo spectra, obtained fr om gas-filled liposomes and perfluorocarbon solutions, suggest that these c arrier agents have potential for use in angiography and perfusion imaging. Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.