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Abstract

The Ferrioxamine (FOM) family of chelates and amide homologs thereof provide excellent contrast agents for magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. The magnetic dipole generated by unpaired electrons within the paramagnetic Fe(III) atoms, cause a local reduction in the bulk magnetic field Bz of the MR system. The resulting shorting of the T1 (spin lattice) relaxation time in the local hydrogen protons within the area of interest, causes an intense 'free induction signal' and a corresponding modulation in the collected scanning data. The contrast agent within the tissue or organ of interest causes the tissue to appear on the MR display as a high intensity or white area. Background tissue is displayed as darker or lower intensity greys. FOM does not penetrate the blood-brain-barrier under normal circumstances; and is therefore useful in detecting the extravasation of arterial blood in the extravascular space during cerebral hemorrhaging and in the endema fluid surrounding tumors. The amide homologs form functional groups which enable the FOM contrast agents to go into solution readily, and promote organ selectivity.

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