Advanced Magnetics (AVM)

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"Once we realized that iron oxide nanoparticles had unique pharmacology and a very long half-life in blood, we thought this might be a good imaging modality, not just to see where viruses went, but where inflammatory regions in the brain are," Neuwelt said.

Robert Quencer, M.D., chairman of the Department of Radiology at the University of Miami School of Medicine, and chief of radiological services at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, is editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Neuroradiology, which published one of the first articles on the use of nanoparticles in imaging human brain tissue in 2002.

Quencer called Neuwelt's study "significant" because ferumoxtran-10 stays around longer than gadolinium, allowing doctors to view the affected tissue throughout the surgical process by intraoperative MR. And exploration of the mechanism by which it's accumulated in cells may provide more insight about tumors and other areas where reactive cells are found.

"There are a lot of possibilities," he said. "One area would be in spinal cord tumors. There's no reason to suspect the uptake would be different in the spine. And it could be very valuable in guiding a biopsy."

Neuwelt's collaborators included Nesbit; Peter Varallyay, M.D., instructor in diagnostic radiology; Attila Bago, M.D., former research instructor in neurology; Leslie Muldoon, Ph.D., assistant professor of cell and developmental biology, and neurology; and Randal Nixon, M.D., assistant professor of pathology.