MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING CONTRAST AGENTS CONTAINING WATER-SOLUBLE NANOPARTICLES OF MANGANESE OXIDE OR MANGANESE METAL OXIDE

摘要

The present invention relates to a manganese-containing metal oxide nanoparticle-based magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agent, which is characterized in that: The core of it comprises 1 to 1000 nm-sized manganese-containing metal oxide nanoparticles which include MnO a (0<a<5) or MnM b Oe (wherein M is at least one metal atom selected from the group consisting of a Group 1 or 2 element such as Li, Na, Be, Ca, Ge, Mg, Ba, Sr and Ra, a Group 13 element such as Ga and In, a transition metal element such as Y, Ta, V, Cr, Co, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, Ag, Cd and Hg, and lanthanide or actinide group elements such as La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Pm, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm and Yb, 0<b<5 and 0<c<10); preferably MnM' d Fe e O f (wherein M' is at least one metal atom selected from the group consisting of a Group 1 or 2 element such as Li, Na, Be, Ca, Ge, Mg, Ba, Sr and Ra, a Group 13 element such as Ga and In, a transition metal element such as Y, Ta, V, Cr, Co, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, Ag, Cd and Hg, and lanthanide or actinide group elements such as La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Pm, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm and Yb, 0<d<5, 0< e<5, and 0<f<15). In addition, the nanoparticles include water-soluble manganese-containing metal oxide nanoparticles which is characterized in that they are soluble in water themselves or stable in an aqueous media as being coated with a water-soluble ligand and they possess enhanced magnetic properties and MRI contrast effect. Also the water soluble manganese- containing metal oxide nanoparticles are coupled with an bioactive material such as chemical molecules or bio-functional molecules, and thus the nanoparticles can be used as an MRI contrast agent for target specificity and cell tracking.