Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provides high-quality spatial resolution and does not use radiation. Contrast agents play a significant role in improving the quality of diagnostic imaging by increasing the contrast between the different internal structures or types of tissue in various disease stage and medical condition of interest. With the advent of Gadolinium-chelate complex for MR1 contrast agents, where the proton relaxation rate is enhanced by the presence of the paramagnetic Gd ions, great efforts are sought to develop new contrast materials with several orders of magnitude of higher resolutions than existing contrast media, such as Gd-DPTA. Endohedral metallofullerenes are promising candidates for new generation of MRI contrast materials. In this SBIR project, AHM is going to develop new water-soluble metallofullerenols for in vitro and in rive MRI studies. High yield production of metallofullerenes will lay foundation for new drug design and for developing techniques for diagnosis and treatment. For example, functional endohedral metallofullerene derivatives are designed and developed for specific cancer tissue targeting. Furthermore, by introducing one or two irradiated metal atom(s) into carbon cage, diagnosis and treatment may only require one injection, which results in a great reduction of health cost and to improve the quality of patients' life. SBIR funding will speed up this research project. The participation of the University of California at Davis is key to the success in exploring the new contrast agents.
