Comparing the two concentrations of Co0.6 Zn0.4 Fe2O4 nanoparticles coated with dimercaptosuccinic acid based on T2-and T2*- weighted MRI: An animal study

Abstract

Purpose: This study aimed to compare two different concentrations of Cobalt-zinc (Co???Zn) ferrite (Co0.6 Zn0.4 Fe2O4 or CZFO) nanoparticles (NPs) included 1.5 and 2.5 mg Fe/kg coated with dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA) based on T2-and T2*- weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of rats liver. Materials and methods: The structural and crystal phase of CZFO magnetic NPs were determined using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and FTIR analysis. Two groups of rats (six for each group) were studied, in which the first and second groups received 1.5 and 2.5 mg/ml of Fe/kg body weight of the mentioned NPs, respectively. After the injection of the NPs, the signal intensity of the liver at different times (30, 38, 75, and 120 min) as well as the pathological characteristics of the liver and kidney tissues (24 h after injection) were investigated for the two groups. Results: For group 1, the maximum contrast enhancement in the rat liver was 58.46 and 77.13 occurred at 30 and 120 min, respectively, for T2 and for T2* weighted images. For group 2, these values were obtained at 57.96 and 75.77 occurred at 30 and 75 min, respectively. There was not found a remarkable iron in the kidney tissue, however, a small amount of iron was observed in the two rats livers for each investigated group, which was negligible after 24 h. Conclusion: Our results demonstrated that for both investigated groups, it seems that the synthesized CZFO NPs coated with DMSA are appropriate agents for increasing the contrast intensity based on T2-and T2*- weighted MR imaging in rat liver.