Pre-clinical results with Clariscan (TM) (NC100150 Injection); experience from different disease models

A superparamagnetic nanoparticle (NC100150 Injection) was investigated in t wo different animal models; renal perfusion in pigs and tumour imaging in m ice. In the pig model, qualitative first-pass perfusion maps following a bo lus injection of NC100150 Injection enabled good visualisation of hypoperfu sed regions of the renal cortex following partial ligation of the renal art ery. High temporal resolution was found to be essential to accurately captu re the first passage of the contrast agent through the kidney due to the ve ry rapid blood flow in normal renal cortex. In the tumour model (LS174T cel ls implanted in nude mice), NC100150 Injection was found to cause a gradual (over 60 min) signal increase on T1-w images in part of the tumours which was attributed to contrast agent leakage from the vascular space to the ext ravascular space in areas of increased capillary permeability. This observa tion is consistent with previous reports on the molecular cut-off size for vascular extraction for this tumour cell line. The specific enhancement of tumour tissue suggest potential utility of NC100150 Injection as an angioge nesis marker. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.