More effective MRI contrast agent

HOUSTON, Aug 11, 2005 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- A U.S and Swiss research team has created a new class of magnetic resonance imaging contrast agents at least 40 times more effective than those now in use.

Researchers at Rice University, the Baylor College of Medicine, the University of Houston and the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne in Switzerland say the new agents -- dubbed gadonanotubes -- use the same highly toxic metal, gadolinium, that is given to more than a quarter of MRI patients today, but the metal atoms are encased inside a hollow tube of pure carbon called a nanotube.

Shrouding the toxic metals inside the benign carbon is expected to significantly reduce or eliminate the metal's toxicity.

The study was published in the journal Chemical Communications.