Pumpkin-shaped molecule enables 100-fold improved MRI contrast: new agent for detecting pathological cells
Assuming that we could visualise pathological processes such as cancer at a very early stage and additionally distinguish the various different cell types, this would represent a giant step for personalised medicine. Xenon magnetic resonance imaging has the potential to fulfil this promise – if suitable contrast media are found that react sensitively enough to the "exposure". Researchers at the Leibniz-Institut für Molekulare Pharmakologie in Berlin have now found that a class of pumpkin-shaped molecules called cucurbiturils together with the inert gas xenon, enables particularly good image contrast – namely around 100 times better than has been possible up to now. This finding published in the November issue cover article of Chemical Science by the Royal Society of Chemistry points the way to the tailoring of new contrast agents to different cell types and has the potential to enable molecular diagnostics even without tissue samples in the future.