Gadolinium Nanoparticle with Blood Pool Properties for Whole Body MRA to Support 60-Minute Image Acquisition Time

Motivation: Develop a blood pool MRA contrast agent that provides exceptional vascular images. Goal(s): Demonstrate that a lipid nanoparticle containing gadolinium (HMRI-101) prolongs useful image acquisition times with 1.5 or 3T MRIs. Approach: Comparing varying doses of HMRI-101 with small molecule gadolinium-based contrast agents (GBCAs) in rat, pig and primate MRA models. Results: HMRI-101 provided whole body high resolution MRA images up to 60 minutes at standard field strength and was excreted via the liver, bile, feces. By comparison, other GBCAs provided images up to 10 minutes and were excreted via the kidney. Impact: A blood pool lipid-based GBCA allows superior vascular images at 1.5 or 3T. Lower doses of gadolinium and route of excretion are of potential safety benefit, and longer imaging times provide greater flexibility and expanded radiological applications.